RE Revelations: DiES IraE
by Nomechan
Summary: Claire was moving foward after all terrible things she had lived due to bioterrorism; or so she thought...When a friendly reunion is interrupted by a terrorist attack, circumstances lead to a tragic loss. Will Chris and co be able to save the person they love or will they lose her in the claws of something worse than death? May be CLEON.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello every one. I was looking though old files while I was doing some cleanup in my computer and found this story. I hasn't been completed but after reading it I thought I might as well give it a try and finish it. Especially with the Hype of RE2 Remake fresh.**

 **I didn't publish it before because I was a little scared about how people would react, but well... I'll never know if I don't try. I'm re-editing things, but ENGLISH is my second languages so mistakes are bound to happen. Be nice Please.**

 **Without further words...please enjoy this prologue.**

 **DISCLAIMER: THE CHARACTER OF RESIDENT EVIL SERIES ARE PROPERTY OF CAPCOM. I ONLY OWN THE CHARACTERS AND PLOT LINE CREATE FOR THIS STORY.**

* * *

 **Ollighan City, USA. MArch12th, 2016.**

He was running late. He shouldn't have spent those few extra minutes waiting for that coffee, but then again, the traffic today was a nightmare. He had no idea of what was happening, but at this rate he wouldn't make it to the office until past noon.

The man drummed his finger against the glass of the window impatiently. The line of cars was not advancing at all and he could see the irritated drivers coming out trying to figure out what was happening. The man checked his hand watch and sighed. His office was barely a few blocks from where he was right now; he probably would make it less late if he just got off and did the trip by foot.

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by poke on his shoulder. THe woman sitting by his side had suddenly dropped her head on him apparently asleep and he couldn't help but feel the annoyance building inside him.

"Ehm...excuse me, miss." he said trying to hide the irritation in his voice "Miss?"

Seeing that the woman wasn't responding to his words, he tried moving her to a better position. She was cold and he noticed that she was holding a bulk in her arms. No matter how much he shook her or called, the woman remained unresponsive.

A loud set of screams made him jump on his seat completely forgetting about the woman for a second. He looked out the window and he could see smoke coming from somewhere a few vehicles in front. Just like him, the other passengers in the bus were also trying to see what was happening outside with curiosity. Suddenly he was distracted by a stir at his side.

So…the woman had finally decided to wake up.

He turned around to see her and screeched in horror. The woman was suddenly covered by blood; it dripped out from any possible body hole: nostrils, eyes, mouth, ears...

She began murmuring some incoherent things that he could not understand, but before he could ask anything the woman had jumped over him with a roar. It was too quick for him to react as she stuck her teeth on his neck.

The last thing he would ever remember were the people running frantically inside the bus trying to escape, the smell of blood, pain and darkness and horrifying screams.


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's chapter1. We are jumping into plot with some familiar faces.**

 **This story is slightly AU-In universe. So I'll be using some canon stuff while putting some original stuff in.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of RE characters; they belong to Capcom. I only own my original characters and my plot.**

 **Credits of cover: Borrowed images from the Evil Within and RE Darside Chronicles. Edit by me**

* * *

 **CLAIRE**

 **North America TerraSave HQ, Hughesville. Sept 16th, 2016.**

A mess, that is how it should be called. Claire let out a frustrated sigh as she dug into the pile of paperwork on her desk. After her return from Sushestvivanie Island seclusion and Neil's subsequent decease, she'd been, admantly, promoted to branch leader. The new rank brought even more work into Claire's already messy life, but so far, TerraSave was pretty much content with her work as chief during these past 3 years. She had gained quite a reputation and other branches often called her asqking for advice which resulted in her phone endlessly ringing every hour.

"Seriously...I am not even sure if I'd rather be shooting zombies than attending this many phone calls and paperwork." she sighed to herself while she put the down the phone. THis had been the main reason she had been rejecting the promotion for years; but after Neil's traiton, TerraSave went through a loss of moral that only she could someohow fix.

A knock at the door made the auburn headed raise her look, as Madeleine, her secretary...Yes, secretary, entered the room with a apologetic look.

"I am sorry, but I'd been knocking for about ten minutes. I was starting to worry that you might have collapsed." she said shyly. Claire knew the woman still felt a little nervous around her, so she let out a soft friendly chuckle as she tucked a hair lock behind her ear. Her hair had grown to its original lenght again and she wore her usual ponytail style.

" Sorry. I was on the phone and I must have missed it. Please tell me you bring me good news and not another of those neverstopping reports that I am supposed to sign…" Claire said in almost a pathetic voice. She could swear that if she had to sign something else she'd throw herself out of the building.

Madeleine couldn't help but let out a laugh and shook her head.

"I am sure this might be considered good news. You've got visitors."

Visitors? Claire face was confused. She wasn't expecting anyone and certainly she was sure there was nobody booked in her already messy agenda for today, so she was completely blank about who it might be. Her question was soon answered when a familiar voice rang into the office.

"That a zombie kills me. I never thought I'd see the day that you would be doing paper work willingly"

Claire was so shocked that she almost dropped the big tower of papers that had been set by her side on the desk. She was glad she didn't or it'd have meant extra work today. A silly grin was painted on her face as she saw her brother's large body enter the office with a bright smile. To her growing surprise, it wasn't only her brother standing in front of the door, but a bunch of familiar faces that included Jill, Barry, Moira and even Leon.

"Chris! What the….?What are you doing here? Wait a minute...Oh, no, no...please don't tell me there was another outbreak. I'd know if there had been...I mean...I should..."

"See what I told you?" Moira said with a laugh "She's been like that these days, if you stop her in the hallway, the first thing she thinks is that you are gonna drop news of apocalypse on her."

"Tch...do I need to be in a crisis to visit my sister?" Chris asked raising an eyebrow "I thought I'd be welcomed..."

" You are! It's just...byexperience, 99% of times you show up unannounced, it is a crisis…" she shrugged.

Chris let out a chuckle as he pulled his sister into a warmth embrace. He couldn't remember when was the last time he had done that. Both of their schedules and job demands usually kept them apart- They kept in touch, of course, but talking in the phone was nothing compared to being face to facce.

"Relax, Claire." Jill smiled putting a hand on her shoulder "We are just back from a mission and we were given a couple weeks to rest. Barry told us you were overworking yourself and we thought we should pay a visit for a change."

Claire laughed, of course Barry would tell them that. Moira was always complaining about her not getting any rest, but she couldn't help it. It was as if the more she worked, the more work appeared.

"Guess it comes with the promotion." she sighed "I am all right, it is mostly boring than anything else. Just the sort of thing, Chris here, hates the most." she added punching playfully at her brothers large arm.

Jill had to laugh at that statement. She was more than aware of how much Chris hated paperwork, especially since she was the one who did all of the reports for their missions after all.

"But you don't exactly look your greatest." Leon said.

The man had been quietly pacing around the room. He had kept himself from saying a word to let the siblings have their little familial reunion.

" Geez, thank you; but you are one to talk, Mr. Kennedy" Claire replied rolling her eyes "How come you joined the party? I thought you'll be busy with your secret agent life and all...Wait, if you actually dragged Leon here...is this some sort of intervention?"

Leon laughed as he shook his head.

"I bumped with your brother and since I was casually on my day off as well, I just decided to join. I haven't seen you in a while, after all."

"I am honored..."

"Well whatever. Let's grab a bite guys. I don't know you, but I am starving and Claire, here, looks like she needs to put on some weight. Are you even eating your meals? I swear I see you thiner each time I see you..." Barry said.

"Ahhh...did you all come here to lecture me now?" Claire laughed " And here I thought I was keeping myself fit. but talking about food, I think I can accept that offer, but you, Barry, are treating me…"

"Whatever it takes to put some fat over those bones, girl."

Claire had to admit she was happy to have them around under _normal_ circunstances and nothing related to a possible bioterrorist attack:but somewhere inside her head, she was expecting alarm to blow off announcing some last minute emergency.

It hadn't been more than two minutes since that thought crossed her mind, when her premonition became true. The building was suddenly filled by the resounding ring of the emergency alarm echoing through the building's corridors.

Claire let out a frustrated groan.

"Redfield….do you copy? Redfield…" the ecstatic voice sounded from the radio that Claire had grown accustomed to carry anywhere around the building. She pulled op that gadget and pressed the answering button.

"Wallace...Care to explain. What the hell is going on?"

"There was a security breach…Someone just hacked into the security system and set off all the alarms. It's a complete chaos. I've got three departments on lock on and 7 people trappaed in an elevator. Where are you now?"

"My office... Why?"

"Like I said, things are mess. All the security codes for the laboratories had been blocked. Mind lending a hand and go take a look? There's a chance your master code wasn't touched..."

"Sure. Which lab?"

"BioMed. Saya is struggling upthere..."

"I will go take a look. In the meantime...YOU fix it."

"I know, I know...Man, this hacking mess was done from the inside, I now a mole when I see it. I gotta check this up and make sure they didn't sabotage any other important codes in the system."

"Fine, whatever...just fix it."

"Roger."

Claire pulled away the radio and looked at her friends with a "what did I said?" loo.

"Guess we'll have to postergate that lunch" she said apologetically "Duty calls..."

"What happened?" Chris asked as they followed his sister to the emergency stairs.

"Security breach. Damn, these pro-terrorists. They have taken it against TerraSave these few months."

"Pro-terrorists?" Leon asked raising his brow.

"Extremists. People accusing TerraSave of being behind the bioattacks just earn funds; stupid things like that. We receive at least a hundred of threatening notes and attacks every week. Terra Save has surely made its enemies."

She had purposely dismissed the part about 80% of those threats being directly aimed at her. No need to worry them with children pranks.  
"What the hell? How could the accuse TerraSave of that?"Chris said annoyed then he added patting her shoulder "You are doing good, don't worry."

Claire smiled at her brother. She couldn't recall when was the last time she had Chris by her side; it felt like years ago. They spoke regularly by phone, unless he was in a mission on some decrepit corner of the world totally incommunicated, but having the flesh and bones Chris was somehow soothing, especially now. The younger Redfield had been having some issues recently whether it was baseless paranoia or just a extreme sense of solitude, she had made sure to keep her facade to hide it.

"Where exactly are we now?" Leon asked curiously. He had never visited TerraSave HQa, after all.

" BioMed Department "she answered " There's where we have our doctors, scientists and other people working actively to find countermeasures for outbreaks. Small thing compared to the pharmaceutical enterprises, but we do what we can."

"You are developing vaccines?" Leon asked sjocked.

"Wish we could, then we could help more people; we do have the skills and knowledge, however we lack the technology or funds to do that. We can only study behaviour patterns and other characteristics to design and effective treatment; epidemiology and other stuff, things to keep the outbreak controlled until the vaccine reaches the affected area. It's a treatment, not cure."

They turned corner and reached well lit area with pale blue walls and glass windows and doors. There was a woman with straight black hair wearing a white robe walking back and forth infront the main door. She turned to them and her face lit up.

"OH god bless us! Claire…" she cried out.

"Saya, what happened? "

"I have absolutely no idea. The security protocol just went on out of sudden and locked everything in the lab. The samples are safe, so it's not that bad, but I'd be lying if I didn't say we were scared as hell. Oh... visitors? Who are these…?"

"You already know Barry, Moira's father. This is my brother Chris, his partner Jill Valentine and Leon Kennedy, and old friend."

"Well, friends of our boss. are friends of the team. I'm Saya Hiwamura."

"She's our head researcher. There's no brighter woman in this world."

"You give me too much credit. If I was, I'd have found a permanent cure for that virus. Either way, can you deactivate the system? I called on Wallace, but he said something about the system being collapsed. I tried using the manual protocol, but it rejecting my code."

"If it rejects mine then we are done."

"Oh, don't say that. You are harbinger of luck, Claire Fix-it- All Redfield…"

Moira couldn't stop herself from letting out a loud laugh which Claire dismissed and ignoring Saya's comment, she began typing into the panel.

"Oh my god, so the rumor of the nickname was true?" Moira chuckled " Really?"

"Save it, Moira. And more than a harbinger of luck I am the harbinger of misfortune. There…"

As soon as the Claire closed the control panel, the alarm was no longer ringing and the click of the locks indicated that the locks had been released.

"Honoring your name, Ms. Fix it all Redfield." Saya smirked.

Claire rolled her eyes at the comment. Saya entered the laboratory. The woman walked to the computer and checked it letting out a sigh of relief.

"Well, everything is in order. Who ever hacked into our security couldn't overcome the firewall around our files..."

"Good."

"Hey... Redfield... you copy?" the voice from the radio called through the static.

"Wallace? I can't hear you. Too much interference..."

"System...np...Need...eck."

"Wallace?"

There was a soft cut in the line and then the static was gone.

"Sorry about that. The system was being attacked, so our signal was getting a little jammed. How's everything on your end?"

"The problems in BioMed are fixed. The security system was unlocked."

" That's good. Maybe you could come to CyberSecurity Command. I am having some issues down here, perhaps your Master Code can help. "

Claire let out a resignated sigh.

"I'm on my way there…"

Claire put away her radio just to find her friends looking at her questionly.

"Wallace calling for you again?" Saya giggled " Seriously, he would probably use any excuse to have you paying him a visit."

"As if, we are totally professional here. I'll just go see what it is about. It might be important. Do you mind entertaining my guest in the mean time?"

"My pleasure as long as they don't mind entertainment to be a lively chat about microbiology."

"Ah...I am sure they'd love that. I'll be back soon."

Claire gave her friends another apologetic smile as she rushed out of the lab and disappeared off the corridor.

"That woman, always in a rush." Saya sighed " Let's hope she won't feel guilty after this."

"Guilty? And why would she feel guilty?" Barry said with a frown "As if it was her fault …"

"Well, it is not like she receives lot of friendly visitors and I she was missing her family a lot. I am sure she'll beat herself for not giving you proper attention, especially you Mr. Redfield. God knows how hard is it for you to be here now"

I hunch of guilty was drawn in Chris face. He knew Claire was a strong girl, she'd always been, but just like he did, she probably missed him as much as he missed her. He should consider dropping by more often, if only those terrorist would stop causing troubles everywhere.

"You seem to know her well…" Leon said casually looking around the laboratory.

"We've grown close. Guess it can't be helped when you become nightshift partners. I am not sure which of us spend more time in this building anymore. Maybe we should start a contest on that."

"Nightshift partner?" Chris asked "What is that supposed to mean."

"Ever since she got promote, the amount of work she gets is simply ridiculous, summed to that ,the heads from other branches are always calling out for help or advice. Her reputation preceeds her after all; the survivor. The work load was so heavy that she simply gave up going home at night. She usually stays overnight. I am the same, there's nothing waiting for me at home, so I prefer it here. When she wakes up from a nightmare or just insomnia kicking in, she drops by and we get some nice chatting with hot chocolate. I know she'd prefered caffeine, but I am doctor and I am not giving and already sleep deprived, coffee."

"Nightmares?" Moira said worried "She still gets them?"

Chris looked at the girl and he saw Barry put his arm around her shoulders protectively.

"Yes, it has become a regular thing. I heard yours have become lesser, that's good to hear."

"We all lived a nightmare in that fucking island; but, it's been 3 years. I had no idea she was having nightmares about it. Why didn't she say anything?"

"Fo the same reason she always keep it quiet…" Chris sighed " she's been like that ever since she was a kid."

"She doesn't want to worry us with her own problems when we have our own." Leon concluded. He had spoken with her a few times on the phone,she'd usually asked how things were doing and when he returned the question she merely said she was bored or lots of work. On the phone, it was hard to tell when the girl was hiding something and the younger Redfield was certainly good in that area.

Their chat was suddenly interrupted by the sound of the automatic doors opening. They had expected it to be Claire, but instead, a tall blonde man wearing a black security uniform came in impatiently.

"Ok, Redfield what did you …?"

"Wallace?" Saya said totally surprised "What the hell are you doing here?"

"What sort of question is that? Isn't Redfield here?"

"That depends of which Redfield you're talking about, kid." Barry snorted.

The man was visibly confused, but it was Moira who cleared it up. She pointed at Chris lazily.

"He's Chris Redfield, THE Chris Redfield. Claire so beloved brother…?"

"Ah, now that makes sense. Grant Wallace, Security Head this building." the man said shaking Chris hand ceremoniously " sorry for my lack courtesy, but I am in a rush. I need to fix the crap those hackers destroyed, so let me rephrase my inquiry….Isn't Claire Redfield here?"

"Of course not, you just called her down to command…" Saya replied as if he was crazy "She left just a couple of minutes ago."

"Wait what? I didn't call her...SHE called me up here."

"Very funny, Grant. No, I heard it from the radio. You said you had something in command show her and you needed here down."

"No, I never….I was in command and she told me she was having issues with the security system in the lab. She even told me to drag my lazy ass up here or she'd make me pay."

Everyone fell silent. It was then that a switch clicked in Chris head.

"Where is command Center?" he said seriously " Save the talk, just answer…"

"Basement but…"

Saya eyes went wide and Grant fell into realization.

"It was trap. They lured her there…." Chris said furiously.

Before anyone could react, Chris was already running out of the room followed by Leon and Jill.

* * *

Claire headed to command center as fast as she could. The sooner she finished with this , the sooner she could rejoin her friends. She had an odd feeling, but she brushed it off as her paranoia kicking in again. The lower levels were awfully quiet, perhaps that was what gave her the odd feeling. HQ was usually a very noisy and crowded.

"You are overthinking things, Claire" she sighed as she pushed the door of Command center open or maybe she wasn't.

The Command room was empty, no sign of Wallace or anyone at all, however, there were no signs of fighting; a very dim shriek set her alarm and she turned just in time to avoid the hit of an unknown black figure that had been hiding behind the opendoor. Claire rolled on the ground and stood up in a jump. She gave the attacker a clean kick on the ribs sending him against the wall.

Her attacker was visibly shocked by the hit, perhaps he'd thought she'd be an easy target, but Claire wouldn't go down without a fight. She hit the unknown attacker multiple times, but the man managed to dodge one of her punches and pinned her against the table. The man was evidently heavier and even stronger than her, but learning to fight with Chris had taught her that the difference in strength and size could be easily overcome with skill.

Claire knee kicked the man in his stomach causing him to lose his breath; taking advantage of his position, she pinned his head with her legs and hit it against the table several times until the attacker fell limply to the ground.

"Tch, I still got my touch. Thank you, Chris…" she panted trying to recover her breath.

However, the red headed girl didn't notice the presence of a second men hidden in the darkness of the room. The new attacker raised his shotgun and hit Claire's with the base of the gun. The woman fell to the ground stunned and the last thing she felt was a hard pain in her back as everything around her turned to darkness.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Characters belong to capcom. I only own the plot and the original characters.**

 **Cover credits: edited from The evil within and RE Darkside chronicles done by me.**

* * *

 **Chris**

"Claire you better be in one piece when I get there…" Chris thought out loud as they ran down the stairs.

He knew Leon was running right behind him. The blonde agent was the first one to follow him as soon as they had figured out that Claire was at risk. He knew that Leon had gone through all that Racoon City mess with his sister and things like that usually created a bond between people. If there was anyone as worried as he was, it had to be him. He also heard another set of footsteps behind him that could only be Jill's or Barry's, but he had no time to check who it was. He needed to reach his sister.

Claire wasn't a damsel in distress and if she needed to kick someone's ass she would perfectly do it, but if she had been fooled down there, she might not have been able to foresee the ambush that awaited her and the element of surprise would certainly put her on disadvantage.

"Chris…" Leon's voice made the man stop in his tracks.

He looked at what the blond was pointing at and realized they had made it to the Command room, but to Chris's much horror, there was no signs of Claire. He inspected the room and saw that there were evident signs of struggle: papers were scattered on the ground, furniture turned over and few stains of blood in the floor that he could only pray weren't his sister's. He cursed to himself for being late.

"Shit…" he groaned in frustration.

"Shhhh" Jill interrupted him "Listen…"

The three took cover. There were at least two people muttering in the corridor, the voices sounded male and by the sound of it, they had to be the ones who had gotten Claire.

"That bitch wouldn't go down without a fight, heh? Not surprising that they want her, she's a tough one, not like the others."

"We got her, that's what matters. Now we gotta get the hell out of here, before they drop that little present over the city. Wouldn't want to get caught in the middle of that mess, would you?"

That last comment put the three of them on their toes. A bomb; both Leon and Chris exchanged knowing looks, if their fears were to be confirmed, Hughesville would soon turn into a second Lanshiang Catastrophe.

"Let's see how those stupid TerraSavers handle that…"

The voices were growing farther. They were moving away and Chris turned to his companions with a stern look in his eyes.

"Jill, get track to Barry and the others. We need to warn them and the B.S.A.A about a possible bioterrorist attack asap."

"Roger. What about you?"

"That's obvious, I'll hunt those assholes and get Claire back. I am taking Leon with me so, don't worry. Focus on your task, Claire's people will definitely aid us in evacuation protocols. If we want to save as many people as possible, we need to move."

"Understood."

With that said, Jill left Command Room in a haste. Chris, then, turned to Leon.

"I just sent a word to Hunnigan. She'd do some intel for us."

"That's good. We can use that info. Did you bring weapons."

Leon made an ironic smirk.

"After all these years, they never leave my side."

"Fair enough. Let's go."

The two males rushed out of the room, they soon caught up with the men they had heard. It was a group of six men wearing black fighting suits, one of them, as Chris noticed, had a evidently unconscious Claire over his shoulder. The image of her sister's motionless body made his blood boil in anger.

The eldest Redfield looked up at Leon and the man nodded. They pulled out their guns and aimed. They first man fell to ground instantly dead by a well placed shot in his forehead. It was enough to set the alarm, and soon , two three of the closest men began to fire back while the remaining ones to sneaked away with Claire. It was evident that their mission had been retrieving her, and they were decided to complete it.

Chris cursed. He had no time for this and those bastards were right in the way. He looked at Leon, and the blonde nodded raising three fingers and began to count. When the last finger was out, the two jumped out from their cover and began firing at the men. The encounter lasted a couple minutes, soon the three men laid dead on the floor.

Leon rushed to the bodies, he pulled out some ammos and weapons that would come in handy and also discovered the insignia in their uniform.

"It's one of those terrorist groups under Neo-Umbrella 's wing…" Leon muttered "I'll let Hunnigan know. Let's get Claire before they're out of reach."

The corridor lead them to and underground parking spot, Chris and Leon made out in time to catch a glimpse of black van driving a full speed out of the building. There was no way he'd let the bastards get away that easily. He ran into the guard's office just to find him dead, a clean shot at his head. He grabbed the keys of one of TerraSave's trucks. And so, the persecution, began.

"There they are…" Leon said pulling out his gun "Keep it steady, Chris. I'll try to immobilize the vehicle."

The blonde got on his feet making sure to keep his balance and began shooting the car ahead, aiming specifically at the tires. It was the safer way to stop the car without compromising Claire's well being, and Chris was thankful to the agent.

The shooting, however, gave away their presence and the men inside the van started to respond. Chris had to make a few maneuvers to skip the rain of bullets that was falling at them. The bastards came well armed and he couldn't help Leon and drive the car at the same time. Sometimes he wished cars had autopilot.

Leon had managed to shoot two of the men in the van. Their corpses had fallen of the street, but it was evident that there were more inside. The car's erratic movement was making practically impossible to for him to shot the tire.

A loud crash resounded in the street as one of the closest building collapsed right over the street blocking the way and forcing the black van to make turn in order to dodge the debris. A strong inhuman roar resounded in the city, a horrible roar that Chris found unpleasantly familiar.

"Shit….not this guy again."

"Friend of yours…?" Leon asked with his eyebrow raised.

At that same moment, the giant creature appeared and Chris was reminded of his not so nice experiences in Edonia and Lanshiang. The B.O.W was as horrible as he remembered it to be and eve less friendlier.

The men in the black van were out now. They seemed to have totally forgotten about their human chasers, and now they were only concerned with finding a way to escape the infamous creature. The ogroman, however, had other plans. It snatched a couple of the more unlucky men broke their bones with its hand. It wasn't a nice image,nor a good way to die even for those fucking terrorists.

"Chris...Claire." Leon pointed as they saw one of the black suited men dragging the auburn headed woman out of the car.

She was still unconscious, and Chris clenched his fist at the thought of what sort of antic had they used on her to completely knock her out.

"I hope you have enough ammo….you'll gonna need it."

The oldest Redfield pushed the car door open and got out with his gun in hand. He would have wanted to have his heavier firearms against that annoying Ogroman.

"We lack the firepower to take it down. Our weapons would barely scratch that thing, so here's our plan. We'll retrieve Claire and get the hell out of here Not playing hero this time. I'll distract it, you go for Claire."

"Are you sure you can take on that thing alone?"

"Don't worry about me, I've fought this bastard before."

Leon frowned with a worried look. He didn't want to imagine how would Claire's reaction be if she woke up to discover that her brother had killed himself trying to save her.

"Take this though, I believe you'll need it more than me."

The blonde threw him on of the shot guns he had taken from Claire's abductors and some ammunitions. It wasn't much, but he knew Chris would figure a way to get rid of the B.O.W, he had to.

"Nice, you make sure Claire is safe, or I'll kill you myself."

"You don't need to tell me."

Chris could only trust that the man would save his sister; then again, Leon had proved himself a competent fighter and probably was the person to worry most about Claire's well being after himself, of course.


	4. Chapter 4

**_Disclaimer: I don't own RE characters, they belong to CAPCOM. I only own my own characters and my plot._**

 ** _Cover art: edited from The evil Within and RE Darkside Chronicles by me. Don't own the original image._**

* * *

 _Leon_

Leon tracked the abductors in the middle of the chaos. People were running in all directions screaming in terror, and he cursed those damned terrorists. He hadn't seen any other B.O.W's beside the one he'd left with Chris, but he was sure it'd be a matter of time for them to pop up.

He had to get Claire back, before that happened, but catching up with the attackers in the middle of the panic was proving itself to be challenging.

"Leon...can you hear me?"

"Hunnigan...I hear you loud and clear. What did you find?"

"Nothing good, I am afraid. The people behind this attack is an extremist group named Arcana. They are confirmed associates to Neo-Umbrella."

"Any idea of why would they want to kidnap Claire?"

"Unfortunately no. My only guess is that it'd be related to her current status as head of TerraSave, however, I can't think of a reason they'd target the organization at all. "

"Claire mentioned that it had gained sosme enemies..."

"An organization workinng against bioterrorism...I'd be surprised if it didn't have its enemies."

"What about the B.O.W alert I sent you earlier?"

"The goverment already gave the alert. Back up is on its way. Just make sure to stay out of harms way until it arrives, Leon."

"Easier said than done. I need help tracking Claire. Do you think you can give me a hand with that?"

"I will see what I can do. I'l contact you if I get something."

"Understood."

Leon put away his phone and took the right street heading north. When he turned the corner he heard a wave of gun shots and a familiar chorus of awful growls. Just what he needed, Leon raised his gun an began shooting at the hostile zombies that jumped at him with starving looks. To his his disgust, the monsters seemed to be same kind he'd encountered in Tall Oaks and Lanshiang. How were they called again? J'avo?

Either way, he had no time to worry about remembering the names every hostile he had encountered. The blonde agent recharged his gun and shoot the J'avos that crossed his way. The things kept coming relentlesslu to his annoyance.

"Claire is so gonna love this when she wakes up." Leon muttered to himself, somehow the sarcasm actually made him smile." now I just need to find her and see that reaction myself."

He shot another group of attacking J'avos; he watched with ppleasure how their bodies fell limply on the paviment.

"Leon...do you copy me?" Hunnigan voice called him from his phone.

"Yes."

"Leon, the men holding back Claire Redfield are heading to the top of the building at your right. My radar detected an aircraft heading their way, too."

"So that's their escape route. Got it."

Leon shot another group of J'avo before they even had the chance to notice his presence and entered the building at full speed. The situation inside was not any better than outside. Most of the people inside had already been infected with the C-virus and he prayed that he wouldn't find a lepotisa inside. The agent was starting to feel irritated with the insect looking monsters; their buzzing and growls brought him bad memories from China and they were delaying him. On the bright side, the infected would slow his target's pace as well. Claire's kidnappers wouldn't have an easy way up. Nevertheless, Leon was still in a race against time. He had to reach them before that aircraft left or he'd loose Claire's trail.

After running a up a few set of stairs and headshooting a significant number of zombies on his way, Leon finally reached the rooftop. The group of black suited men, were standing in what seemed like an improvised heliport. Claire didn't seem to be conscious yet; either they had knocked her out again or they'd drugged her and he felt the anger grow in him.

"Stop there!" he shouted as soon pointing at them with his gun.

Naturally, they weren't cooperative and a shower of bullets fell over him. _They never are_ , Leon thought as he barricaded himself against the door and began shooting back. His aim was compromised since he had to be careful or he could end up hitting Claire in the crossfire. He managed to shoot down two of the man, leaving only the one carrying Claire.

He was trying to come up with a plan to rescue her when his thoughts were suddenly interrupted when he heard a loud bang. The helicopter that, he guessed, was supposed to pick up Claire had been shot and was now burning in flames. The vehicle was spinning erractically and falling straight at their direction.

"Shit…"

The blonde ran as fast as he could shooting at the last remaining man who fell to the ground dead. Leon didn't waste any time, he picked up the unconcious woman and rushed to make his way away, however it was too late. The helicopter crashed against the building causing a large explosion that sent him and Claire flying along a with the debri.

Leon barely caught a glimpse of Claire's pale face lying by his side before his view turned to darkness.


	5. Chapter 5

**I'll try to upload all the chapters that I had writen so far. I hope I've been able to keep the essence of the characters so far. Writing actions scenes are difficult. They play nicely in my head, but it isn't easy to put them on prose. As reference to the creature, you can think of the child heating monster from the Movie Pan's Labyrinth.**

 **Hope you enjoy it, and if you feel like it, please leave a review :)**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

 _Claire_

Her head hurt as hell. That was all Claire could think the moment she openend her eyes and pushed herself up. She couldn't see anything in the darkness,but she could feel the unfamiliar rocky ground under her hand.

"Just great…" she sighed grabbing her head in pain "Why do I always end up waking up in unfamiliar and horrible places like this?"

It was dark, damp and for what she could tell, it looked like she was in some sort of cave or tunnel. She sat up resting her back against the wall and sighed. The last memory she had was her fight with a man inside of the Command room, followed by pain and darkness.

The bastards had probably hit her head and she wouldn't be surprised if she had concussion, judging by the dizziness and her blurred vision she was feeling at the moment. She needed to recover a little before she could think of moving.

" And knowing my luck...I am probably in another of those experimental facilities." she sighed "I'll need a weapon… and my senses."

Claire made sure her vision was cleared before she finally pushed herself up on her feet. HEr eyes were getting used to the darkness and she could make out some shapes in the drakness. The dizziness was still there, but she could bear with it.

It was too quiet for her taste. Deathly quiet and to her experience, dead things rarely stayed dead. The auburn headed began walking, relying on the wall as support and cursing the fact that her dizziness was affecting her balance.

"Just great….I'm pretty much useless in this state."

She could barely stand and walk, had no weapons nor any clue of where she was. Just the perfect state to fight mutant zombie-likes if they appeared; she thought bitterly. Deep inside she was hoping that she was being paranoid and for a change she had been thrown into a "normal" place, but to tell the truth she doubted it.

She kind of wished Chris was here or Leon...Wait, Leon? A flash of memory crossed her mind: a explosion, fire, a hard hit...Leon's voice. It was blurry, but it was there. Leon had been with her at some point. Damn, she only hoped the man was safe, but if he'd been with her, there was a high chance that he'd be around.

"Well, guess I can have a little hope for friendly company" she sighed "First things first, get the hell out of here."

Claire made her way through the cave. With her dizziness, her pace was slow and clumsy making her way hard. The ground was irregular making it easy to trip and the last thing she wanted was to fall down and hit her already injured head.

A loud howl in the distance made a chill run down her spine. How much she hated when she was right. If she wanted to get out alive from here she needed a weapon and soon. The tunnel soon opened up and she caught the smell of grass and damp soil. She had to admit that the fresh air and the view of the sky sort of made her feel better.

"Right...no time to feel relieved. I am still weaponless" she said to herself. It was a little silly to talk to herself, but it was a good way of keeping herself focused.

Claire took a look around, at least the light of the stars and the moon allowed her to get a clearer view. She noticed some lights in the distance: a village or a town, probably a place infested by undedead things and god knew what other mutants, but a place where she would most likely find a weapon and maybe even a way to contact help.

It was a risky bet, but for all she cared, she had little to lose. It wasn't the first time she had found herself in a place infested by bloodthirsty zombie-mutants anyway.

The youngest Redfield managed to pick up a trail that lead to the town. So far, no signs of dead unfriendly friends, but she couldn't tell whether that should make her feel good or worried. As she walked, she started to recover her pace. Her head stung, but she was starting to feel clearer. After a couple minutes of anxiety, she finally saw the first glimpse of the town and no signs of locals, nor hostiles.

The moment Claire set a foot on town, a stingy pain pierced her head followed by a series of disjointed and blurred images of an abandoned town, signs in russian, a prison...Not so lovely memories of one of her past adventures. She shook her head and looked around. The village was different of course, that town in Sushestvivanie had been abandoned for god knew how long, this one, however, looked like up until recently, it had been populated.

"Right, pull yourself together, Claire. First things first, find yourself a suitable weapon."

Claire walked carefully peeking inside the houses through the windows. No signs of a single living soul, which usually meant she was safe. She entered one of the houses and looked around the room carefully. No one, however she was delighted to see that there were weapons she could use: an old hunting riffle with a box of ammo, a set of twin knifes, and a chain. She had no idea if the chain could be useful, but hell, she would take it anyway. She'd come up with something when the time came.

A white blur caught Claire's attention. It'd been fast and she had barely seen it pass behind her.

"Hello?" she said cautiously walking in the direction she had seen it with her rifle raised just in case.

No answer, not that she'd expected one anyway. She was starting to feel anxious, the lack of noise was unnatural: no birds, no animals, no insects…

ROOOOOOOARRRR

Claire started to regret her inner complains about the lack of noise. That roar wasn't something she wanted to hear. It was time to backtrack and take cover. If she could avoid unnecessary waste of ammo, she'd do it. She still wasn't feeling well enough to fight; she didn't even know what the hell was awaiting for her out there or if she'd be lucky enough to resupply. She walked out of the house stealthly and carefully; she was making her way back into the forest but made and abrupt stop.

"Oh, come on…"

Her way was blocked by a group of unfriendly looking villagers. They didn't seem infected with the infamous T-virus, but they were definitely infected with something, and knowing those Umbrella's, no, Neo-Umbrella's batards, this was probably another of their freaking mutated strains. Their skin had turned into a purplish gray, their eyes were totally dilated and bloody red, and if that wasn't enough, the hostile growls and they murderous looks totally convinced her.

Without thinking it too much she pulled up her rifle and began shooting: clean shots into their heads. She alternated her attacks between gunshots and using the knives. She still wanted to save ammo as much as she could. Surprisingly, handling these guys was being a lot easier than she expected, and that was actually starting to worry her. Things couldn't be that easy and, for the third time in the day, she hated when she was right.

A loud roar cut into the air, and Claire watched in horror how a deformed and tall creature was heading fast in her direction. She reacted as quickly as she could, taking cover inside and abandoned house and hoping that that new arrival hadn't taken notice of her presence yet. Describing it was probably impossible, she'd never seen one like it before and she guessed that this guy had to be one of Umbrella's new toys. It was thin, the tissue was decaying in many parts of its body and i's right arm was bent into an awkward direction. It was faceless, except by a large mouth filled with yellowish sharpy teeth; no eyes, no nose...nothing but a mouth.

The creature grabbed a bunch of the villagers with its long bloody claws and began devouring them. That was new, she'd never seen a B.O.W. feeding of fellow monsters, they were usually after fress DNA which made normal living organism the main course. Then again, this guy probably didn't care about freshness, and he only wanted dinner. She had to do something, or she'd end up being dessert.

Taking advantage of the chaos, she dodged the villagers and ran off. Confronting this thing now would only bring her into an early dead, and wise people knew when to retreat. Unfortunately, her escape wasn't going to be easy and she cursed as she fought her way out through the villagers. Her head was starting to hurt again and she could tell that it wouldn't be long for the dizziness to strike in.

She came to an abrupt stop when another deformed creature appeared in front of her. Once more, this one seemed to be a new one, but unlike the other she'd seen, it was smaller:human sized; like its bigger version, its skin was pale. His face was eyeless, and its nose consisted in two holes barely covered by tissue; its mouth cut open and a blackened tongue hung out from it. She could make the form of deformed ribs under the skin of its chest.

Claire shot it a couple times only to find that, to her dismay, the bullets richocheted and did nothing, but give out her presence. A loud growl made her look behind. The bigger guy had caught up with her, too, which meant she was completely cornered.

Cursing her luck for the millionth time, Claire looked around trying to come out with a plan. There was a storage room ast her right with a partially open door; moving as fast as her condition allowed her, she jumped into the room and locked the door. SHe knew it wouldn't stand for long, but it should at least delay them a bit and if she was lucky enough, maybe she could find something useful. Her lips curled with a smile when she found a group of metal cilinders pilled in a corner of the building.

"Fuel...Right, now how do I blow it up without killing myself in the process?" she whispered.

Suddenly, she heard the door break and the screech announced that the smaller creature was onto her. She looked around trying to stay calm. There was a window behind here, and the only thing she could think of was breaking it and jumping out as she used her rifle to cause the ignition of the barrels. Risky, stupid but effective. It had worked before, it should work now. She threw herself through the window as she pulled the trigger. One of her bullets hit the fuel barrels causing a spark.

Fire spread inside the storage room in a massive chain explosion that sent metal, wood and rock flying in all directions. The intensity of it also caused Claire's body to fly a couple of meters into the woods that surrounded the town and she rolled down the hill hitting her head, face and limbs against rock and wood before falling into a ditch filled with plants. The pain in her head was so strong that she barely had time to react before she blacked out. for the third time that day.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING**

* * *

 ** _Leon_**

Leon walked in the darkness; his gun ready to shoot anything that could be a threat. He had woken up a couple of hours ago, just to find himself trapped in a cell guarded by two men that, he guessed, were part of the terrorist group that had kidnapped Claire. He looked around, but to his dismay, there were no signs of the red headed around.

"What are we supposed to do with the man?" one of the men whispered.

"We are waiting for a word from the orders were clear, they just wanted that Redfield bitch. This guy is pretty much useless to them."

"Why did they drag him here then?"

"Who knows. Maybe they want to make him one of those things, too." the man chuckled "It'd be nice to what does his pretty face turn to, don't you think?"

There was a soft slashing sound and a thud, as if something had hit the ground, followed by the screeching sound of the cell doors opening. Leon raised his look and frowned at the person who stood in front of him.

"Ada…"

"So we meet again…" the asian woman's lips curled in a smile "And here...from all the places."

"What are you doing here?"

"My job, of course, as for you...I suppose you are here for the Redfield girl."

"Claire...where is she?" Leon said pushing himself up on his feet.

"Somewhere...running around, if she's still alive, of course." she replied simply "but for what I have seen, I wouldn't bet against her chances. She could use a helping hand, though."

Leon frowned. He never knew what to expect from Ada, but somehow he couldn't bring himself to distrust her.

"I doubt you came just to tell me that."

" Now now..." Ada smiled "My work here is done, but I heard a rumor about you being around so I thought I'd pay you a visit. Here…"

Ada threw him a couple of handguns and holsters filled with ammo.

"Those boys won't be needing them anymore anyway. The Redfield girl should be around the forest. If you take this tunnel you should reach outside. It should be easy for you to get out, there aren't many guards. They're not required." the woman smiled "Until next time, Leon…"

Before Leon could say anything, the asian woman was already gone. He'd never understand her, but the time and place weren't the right ones to think about it. He had to find Claire, figure out where the hell they were and find a way to get out. He picked up Ada's "presents" and made his way outside.

Just like Ada had said, he didn't meet any other guards on the way up, however, once outside, things were less friendly. He had crossed paths with a bunch of people infected with what he recognized as Plagas. They lurked in the darkness of the forest waiting for any unguarded passerby to jump over him. He had managed to kill them without problem; he had handled Plagas before, but he was concerned about Claire. If Ada was right, Claire was running around, most likely unarmed.

After a few minutes of trying, he'd managed to contact Hunnigan. The signal hadn't been clear, but it was enough for her to locate his position and send help. In the meantime, his primary objective was finding the youngest Redfield.

Tracking down Claire's whereabouts wasn't going to be easy. She could be anywhere, but if he knew her well enough, the first thing she'd do would be arming herself, and the best place to do that would be a place where people could live. He had been searching for a town or anything similar as he navigated the forest, but so far he hadn't found anything. Suddenly, he heard a loud bang and he saw the flames of an explosion a few meters from his position.

He could only guess if that was Claire's doing, but he didn't lose anything by checking it out, and so he had found himself walking in the darkness to that directions. For what he could see, it was indeed a town, or at least what was left of it. The fire was starting to spread and the whole place was like a giant bonfire. A soft crack of leaves made his senses snap, he turned around quickly raising his gun only to find a rifle pointing directly at his face.

"Leon?" a familiar voice whispered weakly.

The blonde couldn't say how relieved he was to hear that voice again. He lowered his gun as the auburn headed woman did the same with her rifle. He managed to take a good look of her thanks to the light coming from the burning town. Besides looking exhausted and the many cuts on her skin and clothes, she didn't seem to be severely hurt. However, as soon as she had let down the rifle, he saw her lose her balance and he made a quick spin to catch her before she could hit the ground.

"Claire? What's wrong?" he said obviously worried.

"Might be a concussion…" she replied "I already had one when I woke up and the explosion just made it worst...Ahg, we need to take cover, Leon. I am not sure if I managed to blew those freaks up, but I don't feel like I want to find out."

Leon nodded. Claire was in no condition to fight; for the time being they needed to find a safe place where she could get some rest.

"Can you walk…?"

"I can manage...I think."

Claire pushed herself up with Leon's support, but her legs gave up almost immediately. The adrenaline from earlier had totally drained her and combined with her concussion, he was surprised that she was still let out a soft sigh; he put the gun into the holster and picked Claire on his back. She was very light, too light in fact, and he wondered if the woman was eating well at all.

"What are you doing?"

"You can't walk. It's faster this way. Take." he added handing her the handgun "you'll be in charge of the snipping. I take your accuracy is still good?"

Claire let out a weak chuckle. He was glad that the woman was still well enough to have some sense of humor.

"Bet on it, Leon."

Finding refuge was going to be challenging, but Leon wasn't going to give up. Claire needed a place to recover and nothing would stop him from finding one. It took him several minutes and some gunshots from Claire that he was pleased to see, had been perfectly aimed to the heads, to find an abandoned cottage that was barely visible between the plants. He made sure the place was clear from their unfriendly friends before letting the youngest Redfield on the ground. She made a soft groan of discomfort rubbing her temple.

"I want to take a look of your head." Leon said approaching her.

He wasn't a medic and his knowledge in first aid protocols were limited to improvised patching; but he needed to make sure of her status.

"Be my guest…" she replied allowing him to examine her.

Leon looked at her head with the little light that entered the room. There was a lump at the back, he noticed trails of dried blood that had slip from her ears. The posibility of a concussion was very high.

"How are you feeling?"

"Peachy like crap…" she snorted weakly and Leon couldn't stop himself from smiling. It'd been long since he'd had a taste of her humor.

"I am serious though. I just want to make sure that it is only a concussion and nothing more severe."

"I am fine….just a bit dizzy, my view is blurred and I feel like I'd throw up at any time; not to say I am drained and that I could use a hot bath, but I am not complaining. I guess I should be grateful that I am still alive and kicking." she smiled "so...care to tell me how did you end up in this mess with me?"

"I was supposed to rescue you." he snorted "I guess Chris is probably pissed at me now."

"Chris is pissed most of the time. He will live through it as long as we make it out of here alive."

"Yeah, no doubt we can handle that."

"You tell me, I probably hold the record for waking up in the worst places."

Leon did not reply. He had heard of Claire's misadventures with B. , especially her most recent one in Sushestvovanie. He had read the report, but it had been quite vague and Claire's name had barely been mentioned as one of the survivors.

"You're as tough as you've ever been, aren't you?"

"Tch...I don't know, maybe I am just getting too old for this…"

"Hey, if you are getting too old, what about me and Chris?"

"Yeah, yeah. I just don't know. I guess it's the concussion making me say crap."

"You need to rest. Try to sleep and I'll stand guard…"

"All right...wake me up in a couple hours so that we can switch. I need to be woken up anyway, you know...the concussion and all."

"Don't worry. I will..."

Leon watched her for some minutes before Claire's head began drop slightly. Hhe realized that she had probably fallen asleep already. She was exhausted and he couldn't blame her, he didn't know how long she had been out there fighting those monsters while bearing with the side effects of the concussion; she certainly deserved the rest.

He stared at Claire's sleeping form and he was suddenly reminded of their time at Raccoon City. It had been eighteen years, and back then both of them had been young and inexperienced, but now the story was different. He was one of the top Agents from DSO, while Claire had not only survive multiple altercations with Umbrella's crazy scientists, but she had become the leader of a movement working to counter terrorist advances.

He looked at the sleeping woman and smiled to himself. She had changed since the last time they had met. Claire was no longer the girl he knew from Raccoon, she had always managed to keep her head cool back then, but she was more mature and serene now. Then again, she wasn't the only one who had changed, he too had grown with the years.

Claire had chosen a path different from the one he'd chosen. She was a fighter, but just not like him or her brother. She had bowerd to protect and save, instead of killing and she had a relatively low profile. Why would she become target of terrorists?

" Just what the hell does Umbrella want with you, Claire?" he sighed.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I Own nothing but the plot of this story.**

 **Enjoy, and if like it please leave a comment!**

* * *

 ** _Claire_**

 _She was running through the chaotic streets of Raccoon city. The army of undead was tailing right behind her with their horrid growls and that putrid stench of death. She had ran out of ammo, which meant that if she got cornered she was pretty much dead. She had lost track of Leon, she didn't even know if the young man was still alive at all; his whereabouts were pretty much the same as Chris's now. She took a turn and found herself in a dead end. She was cornered: no bullets, no escape...and cannibal monsters slowly getting to her. This was it...this was her end…_

Claire's eyes snapped open and she felt the sun rays hitting her face from a small hole on the ceiling; how she hated those stupid nightmares. It'd been while since the last time she had had one about Raccoon, though.

It was morning already and Leon hadn't waken her for the switch. She was slightly annoyed, but at the same time she was grateful. She knew he had done it to let her recover, after all. She stretched and grabbed her head. The pain was still there, but it was significantly lesser and her vision was back to normal, too, which meant the effects of the hit were starting to pass.

"Good morning, sleepy beauty." Leon greeted her and she rolled her eyes. She had forgotten how much of a charmer he could be when it came to ladies, but she knew him too well to fall in his tricks.

"Good morning, cheater. I thought I said you should wake me up for switch."

"I intended too, however you seemed like you were enjoying yourself. When was the last time you sleep more than three hours?"

When was it? She couldn't remember. Between the nightmares and the work, she had skipped a lot of sleeping, but she wasn't going to tell him that. She wasn't up for a scold from him, anyway.

"What is that supposed to mean?"she said raising an eyebrow.

"Just asking, you just looked like you hadn't had a good night of sleep for a while."

"I hardly think that sleeping in a dilapidated cottage in an land filled with mutant monsters can be seen as a good night of sleep."

"Anywhere is good when you are exhausted." he reasoned " Besides...I was here."

Claire wasn't going to argue that, but the last part made her roll her eyes. However, even if it hadn't been the best sleep of her existence, the rest had been welcomed by her aching body. She wasn't in her best shape, but at least she had more capacity to fight back if the situation required it.

"I am not going to discuss my sleep patterns with you, Leon. We should head out and try to find where the hell we are before our rotten friends decided to pay us a visit."

Leon didn't seem to argue at the suggestion. He got on his feet and offered Claire hand to get up. The auburn headed accepted the offered hand and pulled herself up on her feet. She was pleased that she didn't feel that dizzy anymore, but her head was still painful and if she did the wrong movement she'd probably lose her balance. Stupid concussions, she hated them.

"How's the head?" Leon asked.

"Stingy, but good. I am ready to go."

"Good." Leon said " I managed to contact Hunnigan yesterday. My signal wasn't good, but she probably got our location. I am sure your dear brother will come soon."

"Great. Let's try to stay in one piace until then."

"Just like the old times, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess you don't get the pleasure to go solo, this time."

"I don't complain about my partner though." she heard Leon mutter behind her.

Claire picked up the rifle and checked her ammo. She then took one of the knifes and handled it to Leon.

"Well here's a present to celebrate our new association. Just in case you ran out of ammo."

" Aw...Do you give knives to every partner you get?"

"Only to those I like" she replied winking at him and making Leon smile.

The pair walked out of the refuge carefully. Compared to other places she had been, Claire was actually pleased with the clear view of green and the smell of grass and nature. It was a nice change from the usual tunnels, underground stations and the fetid smell of dirt. THe coast was clear and the two let out a sigh of relief and relaxed.

"Oh, right, locals here …" Claire remembered.

"Yeah...they're infected by a improved strain of Plagas."

"Plagas?"

"Hum, yeah. Had the the greatest pleasure of dealing with it five years ago at East Slav. Shoot them on their head, and be careful, some of them can mutate after that."

"Nasty little bastards. I hate parasites. Guess you've been busy saving the world, huh?." she added raising her eyebrow with a smile.

" More like destroying it. You are one doing the saving. I heard you've been busy yourselg."

Claire snorted. They all have been busy. She wondered if she would ever get to spend a day with her family and friends like a normal person.

"What can I say. Work is one demanding boyfriend."

"You sure have a taste for your boyfriends. Haven't you thought of getting a real one for change?"

"I am fine, never actually got one on my younger days and the Raccoon city mess was the cherry on the top, so it really doesn't matter. It was hard to be appealing to boys when you have Chris as your brother."

"Don't tell me he scared all potential guys."

"Something like that, but it wasn't all his doing. I played my part scaring off some of them too. Besides, my luck with men seems to suck, either they get killed or they happen to be traitors of some sort.."

Why was she even telling him this? She had to pull herself together.

"What do you mean by that? Any ex-boyfriend that I wasn't told about?"

"Leon...you can't be seriously asking me this."

"I'm just trying to catch up. It's been awhile since we talked so casually."

Claire had to admit that he might be right. The last time they had seen each other was and actually spoken more than a greet and business was during the Harvardville outbreak. After that, they had crossed paths in one or two of the BSAA meetings, but they had never stopped to chat about things outside their work. They sometimes called each other when they needed to ask questions about a report. Those were a little more casual, but they didn't last that long.

"None. I did happen to stumble with a guy who seemed to like me once,but he was killed by crazy mutant bitch. Then there was this guy of TerraSave who happened to be selling us to terrorists. Like I said, my luck with men just sucks. Looking at the bright side, I guess Chris gets to brag about being the only man in my life."

"I am sure you have more men beside him, Claire."

"Suppose I do, but I am not calling my man at someone who already has a woman to tail him. What about you, charmer?" she added trying to turn the topic away from her.

"Guess I am the same as you. My job seems to be a demanding girlfriend, too."

"Really? I would have expected that you and Ada Wong would have made some advances by now."

"Sorry to disappoint you, but Ada and I have a different kind of relationship."

"Yeah, right. Hey...look"

Claire hid behind a set of bushes. A group of infected locals stood a few meters from them. To Claire's relief, it didn't look like any of those mutant monsters she had stumbled with last night was around.

" They shouldn't be hard to handle, butI say we avoid conflict unless it is necessary…"

"I am with you. You'll want to save your bullets for the bigger ones." Claire replied looking at him.

"Bigger ones?" Leon muttered with a frown.

"Yeah, I met two of them last night. They were the reason I blew up that place. You know me...if I can't shoot, I just blow it up..."

And she'd been desperate. She wasn't physically nor mentally well to fight them.

"They don't look like anything I'd seen before, so my guess is that it is a new strain and we get the privilege to test them."

"What an honor…" Leon sighed "I think we should try finding a high place to scout the surroundings. There's a rocky mountain in that direction. I hope you're in mood for hiking."

"I'll never be in mood for hiking, Leon, but I'll do what I have to do."

"Now that's the spirit. Good to see the old Claire is still there."

"The old Claire has always been here. Let's just say I am an improved version."

"I had no doubt of that, but I liked the old Claire, too. She was cute."

"Ha,ha...drop it, charmer, and let's move."

Claire followed Leon as he lead her to the mountains. She had to admit that there was some sort of comfort about having his company. She was being an idiot but there was something about being with him that made her feel safe, just like back in Raccoon city. The only other person that had ever given her that sensation was Chris; but Chris was her brother, and she had grown up feeling like Chris would always keep her safe. Leon was different, they weren't related by blood or anything.

"Strange…" Leon whispered "I'd have expected to meet more hostiles, but we have barely encountered some Plagas carriers."

"It is a very different scenario compared to the one last night." Claire admitted "Perhaps they're more active at night time?"

It was a wild guess, but it might have not been completely wrong.

"It is not a common treat when it comes to Plagas, but you might be right. Guess we should do as much as we can during day time and limit our movements at night, if that is the case."

Claire thought Leon suggestion was reasonable. At least until they had figured out what they had to do.

"By the way…" she began.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you, Leon."

"What for?"

"For being here. I mean… I was unconscious all that time, but I am sure that chasing me wasn't easy. Thank you."

"You don't need to thank me. If it hadn't been me, it'd have been your brother. We wouldn't have left them take you that easily."

"Yeah, I guess."

"I wanted to ask. Do you have any idea of why would they want to kidnap you?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. I have receive lots of hate-threatening letters, but... Maybe it is someone with an old resentment against me. I really don't know. It could be someone targeting Chris, too. I have to admit that we both have rubbed some people the wrong way."

Leon didn't reply as he walked deep in thought. For a moment she wondered what he could be thinking, but she soon dismissed the thought and kept walking.


	8. Chapter 8

**Hello ; I hope you're enjoying this story so far. Here's a new chapter.**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing but this plot.**

* * *

 ** _Leon_**

He had been watching Claire's back as they walked through the forest. The casual chatting was helping them to stay calm, however he hadn't expected the conversation to turn into her bad luck with old boyfriends or whatever they had been entittled.

Claire was pretty woman. It was true that she wasn't the usual woman that wore heels and dresses. She had grown with Chris, after all, and she was not the sort of woman to lay low waiting for the prince in shining armor to come rescue her. She knew how to stand her ground when the situation required it and most men would feel intimidated by that. After all who doesn't want to be the girl's hero?

However, Claire was a tough woman and there was something in that that was appealing. If someone wasn't able to see that, well, the bastard was certainly an idiot. When the conversation had turned about him and Ada, he'd quickly brushed it off. He and Ada...it was complicated. There was attraction, but he doubted there was anything beyond that. They're relationship was mostly flirting than anything.

Suddenly, Claire pointed at the group of Plagas carriers, and he'd clenched his gun and sighed. Those weren't hard to handle, but he didn't have infinite ammo and he didn't want to waste them if he could avoid it.

" They shouldn't be hard to handle, but I say we avoid conflict unless it is necessary…"

"I am with you. You'll want to save your bullets for the bigger ones." Claire replied looking at him.

"Bigger ones?"

"Yeah, I met two of them last night. They were the reason I blew up that place. You know me...if I can't shoot, I just blow it up..."

Leon looked at the woman feeling concerned. He had seen her condition night before and she was definitely not in shape for fighting. He was still a little doubtful about her current status, however he was truly amazed that she had managed to fend off despite being basically incapacitated.

 _You'll never stop surprising me, Claire._ He thought proudly.

Claire was looking away abcently with a frown.

"They don't look like anything I'd seen before, so my guess is that it is a new strain and we get the privilege to test them."

"What an honor…"

Leon looked around. They would need a plan if they were to survive and for that, they needed to know their terrain. That way they could decide what way to take or where to avoid. Usually, Hunnigan would be his bes ally in this circunstances, but since her assistance was out of reach right now, his best bet was finding a vantage point. His clear and sharp eyes scouted his surroundings with practiced ease until he found something that seemed to be rocky formation at some distance from their current position. It should be high enough to let them see what they facing

"I think we should try finding a high place to scout the surroundings. There's a rocky mountain in that direction. I hope you're in mood for hiking."

"I'll never be in mood for hiking, Leon, but I'll do what I have to do."

"Now that's the spirit. Good to see the old Claire is still there."

"The old Claire has always been here. Let's just say I am an improved version."

"I had no doubt of that, but I liked the old Claire, too. She was cute."

"Ha,ha...drop it, charmer, and let's move."

Leon let out a soft chuckle. He was glad that the little piece of humor was still there; he had always liked that part of her. Her manners had become more mature and even a little reserved, but Claire was still Claire: a great companion in the worst scenarios.

Leon had taken point mainly because he wanted to ensure Claire's safety. Despite her insistence about being well, the paleness of her face and the hesitation on her steps didn't go unnoticed by the young agent.

"Strange…" Leon whispered "I'd have expected to meet more hostiles, but we have barely encountered some Plagas carriers."

"It is a very different scenario compared to the one last night, not that I am complaining." Claire admitted "Perhaps they're more active at night time

"It is not a common treat when it comes to Plagas, but you might be right. Guess we should do as much as we can during day time and limit our movements at night, if that is the case."

Leon looked around. There were no infected or monsters close and the forest was quiet; no sounds of animals of any kind, just silence. It was enough for him to have him on his toes.

"By the way…" she began.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you, Leon."

Thank you? The man turned to his red headed companion with a quizzical look in his face. Why was she thanking him about out of sudden? He hadn't done anything that deserved gratitude yet.

"What for?"

"For being here. I mean… I was unconscious all that time, but I am sure that chasing me wasn't easy. Thank you."

"You don't need to thank me. If it hadn't been me, it'd have been your brother. We wouldn't have left them take you that easily."

"Yeah, I guess."

Leon let out soft snort. She really had to be silly to be thanking him for that, but he somehow found it cute. It was something that reminded him of the young and childish Claire. Once more he wondered what could those bioterrorist want with her.

"I wanted to ask. Do you have any idea of why would they want to kidnap you?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. I have receive lots of hate-threatening letters, but... Maybe it is someone with an old resentment against me. I really don't know. It could be someone targeting Chris, too. I have to admit that we both have rubbed some people the wrong way."

That was an understatement, especially when it came to Chris. He could perfectly come with a list of people who had him on their VIP Wanted record, but Claire was different. Even though she'd had been working as hard as Chris or himself to fend off bioterrorism, she had been doing it in a more discrete way.

They soon reached the feet of the cliff and the government agent let out a displeased sigh. It was pratically a vertical climb up and without the proper equipment, any false step could be lethal. Leon could handle it, but he was concerned abou Claire.

"Well, guess you were not kidding about the hiking." Claire sighed as she looked at him. She then smiled and shook her head "Don't look me like that. I know what you are thinking and I am fine. I can do it."

Leon wasn't that sure, but he knew better than to argue with the youngest Redfield.

"I know you can. Still I want you infront, just in case. Here I'll give you a push."

Leon helped Claire up the cliff and he made sure she had a good grip of the rock before following her up. The climb wasn't easy, even for someone with the physical condition that he had. His look lingered at Claire's back and he didn't take it off until they had reached the top.

Claire left herself fall on the grassy ground panting. He could see the sweat drops forming over her unusually pale skin and he kneeled by her side.

"You okay?"

"Barely…" she smiled "I hate hiking."

Leon smiled apologetically before he stood up and looked around. At least the effort hadn't been in vain. The cliff gave them a clear view of the place, however it wasn't exactly good news. There was only trees; kilometers of kilometers of trees that spread as an ocean of green.

"Well...at least we are not in a island this time." Claire sighed.

Leon sighed as well. At least Claire was looking it from the bright side, the questions now was what they were going to do.

 _Think Kennedy. This time it isn't only your ass you're trying to keep alive. You gotta protect Claire and get her home safely._ Leon had to drown chuckle at the thought as he looked at his auburn headed companion and imagined the pissed look she'd would have made at the statement. After all, she was far from a damsel in distress.

"Hey, Leon…"

Claire's voice had snapped him out of his thoughts. She was pulling his arm and motioning her head something behind them. Leon turned around and understood. He saw something that outstanded among the leafy tops of the woods behind them. It looked like some sort of tower or the dome of a building that could only mean something: troubles.

"Why aren't I excited about that?" he mumbled and Claire patted his back playfully.

"Guess we won't know until we check it."

He hated the fact that Claire was right. If their suspicions were right, the center of all problems had to be there. Probably some sort of hidden research facility and probably lots of dangerous B.O.W's in the making. If that was the case, they needed to shut it down for good.

"Let's pay them a visit."


	9. Chapter 9

DIsclaimer: I own nothing but my plot.

* * *

 **Jill**

"What do you mean they are gone?" Chris snapped.

Jill had been trying to put a bandage on Chris's arm while she was updating him about the recent events, from the B.O.W. attack on the city to Claire's, and subsquently, Leon'smabduction by the terrorist group.

After parting ways with the duo at TerraSave, she had managed to contact B.S.A.A to alert them about the bioterrorist threat; to her surprise, the contention teams had already being dispatched. Wallace, Claire's cybersecurity chief had set up the Emergency protocol that moment the first biothreat had been spoted in the city. Apparently, Claire, in the midst of her so called "paranoia", had made up a direct emergency line to B.S.A.A and when the emergency protocol was activated, it automatically send a code red to B.S.A.A defence forces.

Alpha and Bravo team had made it just in time to save Chris from being flattened by Ogroma, or as Barry had said, turn him into a Chris sanndwich. With the help of the B.S.A.A men, the ogroman was soon defeated and the not so happy soldier was taken back to TerraSave HQ, which was currently being used as base, in order to be treated. When the man had arrived to see the absence of certain blonde agent and his sister, his temper had flared.

"Chris calm down." Jill said soothingly. She knew well enough how worked up he could get when it came to his sister being in danger "They took Leon, too. He has a tracking device on him all the time and they are searching for him right now. I am sure Claire is with him, but for the time being, we need to focus on the attacks on the city. "

To be honest, Jill was worried, too. She'd had few chances to properly interact with Claire, but the few times she did, she'd become fond of the younger Redfield. At the other hand, she was convinced that agent Kennedy was with her and the man, from what she had heard, was an excellent agent. Claire would surely be safe with him.

"Damn, I don't know what the hell is going on here. Attacking the city and abducting Claire? Just what the hell are they planning?"

Jill's guess was as good as Chris's. She had began conjuring any possible ideas, but all of them made no sense. The attack on Hughesville was of small scale. Despite the many B.O.W s had been deployed causing of a lot chaos and destruction, the damage wasn't as much compared to other attacks. It almost seemed to be some sort of trick to distract them, and perhap it had worked.

Jill was amazed with Claire's hand in the emergency protocols that had taken place when the attack began. She was told that as soon as Claire had taken the reins of the NA Branch, she had made a few changes in the the system To the higher ups, it all seemed like the woman was being a paranoid, but she had managed to convince them of how important the changes she proposed were and eventually, they had agreed to her request. That girl was a goddess of words, unlike her brother. Either way, Claire had not only made the direct emergency line to B.S.A.A, but she also designed a new emergency evacuation protocol that was meant to be activated immediately, if there was a biohazard alarm. As soon as B.S.A.A had been contacted, teams from TerraSave located on different refuges around the city had already began the evacuation of civils. Although they couldn't prevent deaths, they could certainly reduce the numbers with that strategy. It was a smart move and for what she heard, those were only a couple of the many changes that Claire had concocted since her rise as head of branch.

Chris was pleased when she told him about his sister's doings and how effective it had been. She could see the pride reflected in the oldest Redfield and ,heck, he had all the right to be. This was the first time that this protocol had been put on use and it had been a complete success; if someone wasn't satisfied of its results, that someone had to be blind. No surprise Claire had become TerraSave little treasure.

"Gotta said, Redfield number 2 is certainly something." Barry said shaking his head "To think she'd actually come up with all this. No wonder she's so busy all the time. If what they told us is true, this one isn't the only surprised she left in here."

"Well, that's Claire for you. She definitely does a much better job than that Neil asshole." Moira said crossing her arms over her chest " That bastard is to blame for her so called "paranoia". He totally broke her heart."

Chris suddenly choked.

"Her what?"

"Her heart, duh. She was so biased over him and that bastard had to go and sell us to that Wesker bitch. Who knows how traumatized she was after all that mess in that fucking island. He's the one to blame if Claire ends up being single for the rest of her life."

Jill was told little about the events from that incident. She knew as much as the reports had revealed, but the details of the nightmare were limited to Barry and Moira's tales. Claire had been pretty reserved about it and they didn't want to push the subject worrying that it might be touchy. Moira's outburst just proved her thoughts, but she had no idea that Neil Fisher had a story with Claire and judging by Chris's reaction he didn't know either.

"There's nothing wrong with that. Claire is perfectly fine by herself. She doesn't need a man."

Jill laughed loudly and was later joined by Barry. When the jealous brother mode kicked in it was hard to think that the man standing in front of her was the same unstoppable soldier everyone knew. At that moment, Jill's communicator began to beep with an incoming call from a number that she didn't recognize.

"Valentine here." she said shuing Chris groans and Barry's laughter.

"Thanks goodness. Ms. Valentine, this is Ingrid Hunnigan from the DSO. I work with agent Leon S. Kennedy..."

"Yes, ff course, Ms. Hunnigan." Jill said corteously "With all respect, I hope that your call will bring us good news. Have you gotten anytjing about Kennedy's whereabouts?"

"Yes, that is why I am contacting you now. He tried to communicate with me a some hours ago. The signal was bad, so we couldn't actually connect, however, I managed to pinpoint his current location via satellite. Agent Kennedy is a secluded close Germany..."

"Germany?! "she said shocked. Tthey had been halfway across the world?

"Yes, I was shocked as well. From the little bits could get from him, it seems like Claire Redfield is with him. "

"That's great news..."

"It is. This is a formal request from the government of the United States. I am requesting B.S.A.A assistance during the rescue mission for both Agent Kennedy and Ms. Claire Redfield."

" There's no need for so all the paperwork. We would have gone either way. Leon and Claire are friends and family, after all."

"I know. Unfortunately protocol calls are a must. I will send you the coordinates to their location inmediatelly."

"Thank you Ms. Hunnigan. We'll be in touch."

Jill pulled away her phone and turned to her companions. They were all staring at her quizzically.

"We can discuss about Claire's prospects of love in another time."Jill smirked " I just talked with someone from the secret service. We have Kennedy's location and as we guessed, Claire is with him."

"Well, what the hell are we waiting for then?" Chris snapped "I've got some terrorist asses to kick..."

"Well you..." Barry began, but he never finished his phrase, since he was interrupted by the hissing of their radios.

"This HQ to all B.S.A.A active teams. Biohazard threat has been detected in the city. All teams have permission to engage...repeat, permission to engage and execute the enemy has been granted."

"Well, guess they'll have to wait for bit..." Barry said looking at Chris. The eldest Redfield was visibly irritated.

"Time to kick some B.O.W asses..."


	10. Chapter 10

DIsclaimer: I own nothing

HEres Another chapter. SO far I have finished Part I of this story. I hope you are enjoying it so far.

It'd be nice if you can leave a word about how it is doing so far.

Please enjoy :)

* * *

 _Leon_

It was getting dark and so far, they'd been lucky. All the foes they had encountered had been pretty easy to handle, but there was something bugging him. It was about Claire. he'd noticed that something was slightly off with her movements. She'd been oaky earlier, but as the day progressed she had started to slow down and struggle to keep herself on feet; her face had turned pale as well. That made him worry.

"It's becoming dark. We should find a place to rest for the night." he said

"What?" Claire mumbled trying to dissimulate her tiredness.

"You heard me, it's been a long day. We are both tired. We need to keep our strength in order to fight. It'd be stupid and reckless to push ourselves to the limit."

"You are right."

Leon looked her with a raised eyebrow and a look that meant to show his point. Claire was staring at him and, for an instant, he thought the woman was going to complain, but she only tilted her head and chuckled.

"All right Mr. Secret agent. I will follow your lead."

They spent the remaining hours of light searching for a safe place to pass the night. Leon found a small cave partically hiddne between a group of bushes and after making sure it was clear ,they settled inside. The blonde agent made sure to camouflage the entrance with some branches and plants, The blockade was solid enough to hide the entrance and keep anything from coming in, but it has enough clear spots to shoot if necessary.

"So that's what the government teach their agents?" Claire commented playfully as she watched him cover the entrance and he smiled.

"Naturally. It's rule number 4 in how to be an agent 101."he replied in the same playful mood and Claire laughed.

He watched the woman put off her pony tail and comb her auburn locks with her fingers as she rested her head against the cave's wall. This was the first time he saw Claire without her patented pony tail style and he had to admit, that perhaps she should consider wearing it down more often.

 _Since when do I care how Claire wears her hair?_ He asked himself surprised.

"Oh, Chris would kill me if he had heard me now." she said abcently, but under the dying light he saw the woman smile slightly.

"How come?" he replied taking a spot in front of her.

"Keep yourself focused. No time for jokes" She muttered in a lower tone trying to mimic her brothers way of speaking then she let out a soft chuckle. "I always told him that sometimes a little humor is what you need to keep yourself going. He can be so serious sometimes..."

"Sounds about right." Leon said resting his chin on his hand "I can't picture him joking around, but may be he should learn to let himself loose a little. You could teach him."

Leon had always wondered how Claire and Chris were so different and yet so alike at the same time. Claire always found a way to lighten the mood with her sarcasm and her well intetioned jokes; her personality made her an approachable person, while Chris...well, Chris was simply intimidating.

"You are one to talk, Mr. I'm agnet down to business Kennedy..."

At her comment, Leon only sighed. More or less, she was right. After so many years working, fighting and watching the world got to hell, he'd bedome reserved and shut in. With all the tragedies he'd witnessed, it was hard to kee his usual outgoing self, but he wasn't the only one who had faced tragedy and had been force to change a little.

"Then I guess I need some lessons, too. What do you say, Redfield? Will you teach me?"

"Just what are you saying?" she chuckled "To tell the truth, sometimes I wished I was like you guys."

Leon frowned at her words as he shook his head.

"You're fine the way you are, Claire. It is enough with one Chris and me in this world, no need for you to add another one into the equation. To tell the truth, it feels like there should be more people like you instead."

"Like me? If there were more people like me, the world would be doomed. I've messed up too many times in so many things... if only you knew, you'll probably understand what I mean." she sighed.

"It sounds to me that you're being too hard on yourself." Leon replied softly.

"And you guys are just too soft on me." Claire snorted bitterly "When I think back of all the things that could have been avoided if I had just been less naive."

Leon took a look of the woman sitting in front of him. Her features were barely visible, but he could perceive the mortified tone in her voice. Of course he should have known that Claire, just like them, had her own inner demons, but he couldn't stop himself from being slightly surprised. In his head, Claire's image had always been of girl filled with optimism and willpower; sometimes he forgot that Claire was only human, and like him, she would feel doubt, fear and pain.

A distant roar cut through the quietness of the evening and interrupted their conversation. Leon gripped his handgun, a soft "clanck";with corner of his eye, he saw Claire picking up her rifle. Both exchanged knowing looks as they moved stealthily toward the entrance and peeked through Leon's improvised blockade. The forest was barely lit by the pale light of a waning moon. They saw a group of Plagas carriers wandering aimlessly at few meters from their hideout, but they were far enough for them to be safe. Besides, they weren't the ones he was concerned about, but the owner of that horrible roar they had heard a while ago. He scouted the the place with a frown, so far nothing seemed out of ordinary, but then he saw it.

He didn't know how to describe it, the creature had pale skin that, under the dim moon light, almost seemed to glow silvery. Its body was elongated so that its back formed a curve as it moved in the darkness on its four limbs, Leon noticed the pieces of tissue that hung from its body, especially the bloodied ones that covered its deformed face. If it had eyes, Leon couldn't say where they were. Its face was basically a lump of bloodied meat with no distinguishable features but a big hole filled with sharp yellow fangs, that he could only guess was its mouth. Without warning, the creatures snatched one of the plaga carriers and with hungry roar bit off its head.

Leon watched the creature kill the Plaga carriers . It then, let out another horrible roar and its body began to shake and twist on the ground. To their horror, the pieces of tissue began to peel of and some sort of tumors began to appear on it. After a few minutes, the creature had grown an extra pair of arms and something that looked like spikes potruded from its curved back.

"It's... mutating…?" Claire whispered by his side.

The monster roared, this time time it sounded almost painful. Its grayish body twisted in the ground as more pieces of tissue began to fall revealing the reddened mass underneath. Little by little, it began losing the few patches of skin that it had. By now, the creature looked like giant licker, except for its head, which still held the pieces of tissue hanging. Leon had no idea of what the hell it was, but he knew something, he didn't want to confront it now if he could avoid it.

The pair watched the deformed creature disappear into the darkness and both let out a breath that they had been unconsciously holding. Leon made sure the creature was gone before actually letting his guard down.

"One of your bigger friends, I take…" Leon whispered looking at the red head. He could see the horror reflected in her vibrant aquamarine eyes.

"Not...exactly." she replied "This one is...different."

"We didn't see anything like it during day time, so either we were lucky or our assumption is correct."

"That only come out at night. Talk about nightmares. I am just glad it didn't find us, but I've got the feeling that our luck is not gonna be for long."

"Well face it when the time comes, until then, don't worry about it. I think we are safe for now..." Leon replied moving back to his original spot " How are you feeling?"

"Me?" she said surprised.

"You can't fool me, Claire. You've been struggling since that climb we did."

Claire let down a vague snort and shook her head.

"Told you I didn't like hiking." she replied "I'm okay. My head bothers now and then, especially when I'm tired. You know how concussions work..."

"Yeah, try resting a little. "

"I had my share of sleep yesterday. You must be exhausted though. You're the one who should be taking a nap."

"I work better with less sleep." he half lied.

If Leon was to be honest. He did a much better job when he had five or six hours of sleep, even four; his senses seemed to be more alert; but he knew that his body still needed the rest.

"Liar…" Claire muttered. " Get some sleep idiot."

"Only if I get to use your lap as pillow..:" he joked earning a soft smack on his arm and chuckle from his partner.

" You're such a flirt. Go to sleep, Leon. "

Leon should consider asking Claire to become his permanent partner. His missions would be a lot more bearable with her. Then again, Claire wouldn't become an agent.

"I missed this." he sighed.

"Sleeping in a cave surrounded by bloodthirsty parasites and other horrors, mmm...yeah, I really needed it, too."

Leon smiled. He knew that she couldn't see his smile in the darkness of the cave and he was glad. He probably looked like an idiot. The man laid his head against the wall and closed his eyes as the tiredness began to engulf him.

"I was talking about you. I missed you, Claire." he muttered in an almost inaudible whisper.


	11. Chapter 11

Thank you to the people who had left me a review. THat makes me happy and anxioys to keep writing.

Enjoy this new chapter and don't forget to leave me any feedback if you like it.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

 _Claire_

She was annoyed. Her headache had suddenlyreturned and it began to pierce her skull as they walked through the forest. She didn't say anything, though. THe last thing she wanted was to worry Leon and delay their way even more; she'd bear with it; it wasn't the first she had to dismiss the pain. Unfortunately, her body didn't seem to cooperate and her legs felt like jelly and she was struggling to keep herself standing.

 _Just great. I'd been all right up until now. Why did the headache have to return?_

She blamed the the stupid hiking. She had never liked the activity and the effort she had done to climb the rocky wall was probably the cause of her piercing headache. She had a funny sensation going through her body and she could almost feel her limbs starting to grow numb.

"It's getting dark. We should find a place to rest for the night." Leon's voice made its way through her messy thoughts.

Claire was certainly surprised by Leon's sudden words. They still had somehours of light, but the man was suggesting to retire early?

"What?" she repeated unsure that she had heard right.

"You heard me, it's been a long day and we are both tired. We need to keep our strength in order to fight. It'd be stupid and reckless to push ourselves to the limit."

Claire reflected on his words for a moment. When he put it like that, he was actually right. A fatigued body wasn't as effective and, in their current predicament, they needed to be sharp. Leon's suggestion was pretty reasonable..

"You are right. All right Mr. Secret agent. I will follow your lead.""

If she was to be sincere, she was actually thankful by Leon's decision of calling it a day. The headache was starting to make her nauseous and she wasn't sure how long would her legs hold her weight. Leon scouted around wiith alertness and caution, the man was impressive. After so many years, this was the first time Claire saw Leon work as an agent. Gone was the confused and scared rookie she had once met in Racoon City. He finally came across a small cave. It wasn't a five star hotel room, but at least it was covered,pretty well hidden and most importantly, monster free. After settling down inside the small space, Claire saw Leon pull up a bunch of branches and plants, and begin setting them methodically at the entrance. She had to admit the man was cunning. Putting that would most likely keep the cave's profile low and prevent the visit of unwelcomed guests. She was surprised, years ago, the Leon she knew wouldn't have been so thoughtful, but the Leon in front of her now was an experienced agent who had faced endless dangers during his years of service.

"So that's what the government teach their agents?" she joked teasingly.

"It's rule number 4 in how to be an agent 101."he replied in the same playful mood.

Claire laughed as he followed her joke. At least that hadn't changed from the rookie, now experienced man; however the laugh sent an electric pain up her skull and she had to rest her head against the cave's wall closing her eyes to prevent herself from throwing up. The pressure of her ponytail was starting to hurt, so she unmade her hair with a quick move and started to comb her hairs with her fingers softly. At least that way, the pain was considerably less.

"Oh, Chris would kill me if he heard us now." she sighed softly. She could picture Chris's stern look in her mind, and the thought almost amused her.

"How come?"

Leon had taken sit in front of her. She could see the curiosity lingering in hi gaze.

"Keep yourself focus. No time for jokes" Claire whispered trying to imitate Chris's manner of speech and only half succeeding "I always told him that sometimes a little humor is what you need to keep yourself going."

"Sounds about right. I can't picture him joking around, but may be he should learn to let himself loose a little. You could teach him."

Claire found ironic that Leon would say that, sometimes he wasn't too different from her brother after all. She didn't get the chance to see him regularly, but the few times she had got a hold of him, she noticed how the the man was more and more reserved and quiet. He was still Leon, but sometimes it felt like a different one and sometimes it felt the same; but all the people she knew seemed to change every time she met them.

 _Am I the only who hasn't changed?_

" _Wrong...You have change and you know that…"_ a soft voice in the back of her mind whispered sending a sting of pain through her head.

"You are one to talk, Mr. I'm agnet down to business Kennedy..."

"Then I guess I need some lessons, too. What do you say, Redfield? Will you teach me?"

"Just what are you saying?" she chuckled "To tell the truth, sometimes I wished I was like you guys.

"You're fine the way you are, Claire. It is enough with one Chris or me in this world, no need for you to add another one into the equation. To tell the truth, it feels like there should be more people like you instead."

"Like me? If there were more people like me, the world would be doomed. I've messed up too many times in so many things... if only you knew, you'll probably understand what I mean." she sighed.

"It sounds to me that you're being too hard on yourself." Leon replied softly.

" _He doesn't get it, does he?"_ the same voice whispered in her head. " _Would he say the same if he knew all the pain you have caused?_ "

Claire grabbed her head, what the hell was she thinking right now? She tried to ignore the buzzing in her ears as she looked at Leon. She caught him deep in thought, and for a moment she was comforted to find him there.

"And you guys are just too soft on me." Claire snorted bitterly "When I think back of all the things that could have been avoided if I had just been less naive.

She looked blankly at the wall in front. She knew Leon's look was on her, she could feel his intense gaze locked on her, but she chose to avoid him. The pain in her head was becoming stronger and she feared that the blonde man would see it.

Luckily for her, the young agent's attention had fallen into something else. SHe saw him grab his gun with all signs of alarm in in his body language. She understood as soon as she hear that distant roar. She recognized it, she had heard that same roar the night before when those horrible creatures had appeared in that town.

She followed the man to the entrance, she wasn't sure of what she was seeing until the horrendous creature appeared and began devouring the smaller ones. As if the scene of the monster masacring the others wasn't enough grotesque, the creature's body began to contort and change into an even uglier shape.

" _This one won't do either…it's mutating"_ the voice in her head giggle amused, and she had to let out a soft groan.

"It's...mutating…." she repeated unconsciously.

Claire's look was locked on the deformed creature; she stared in horror the blood that dripped from the creature's mouth and how the tissue of it unnatural body began to stretch and tear apart revealing the raw muscle underneath the grayish skin. The image was simply disgusting; Claire felt sick, and it had nothing to do with her headache.

When the monster crawled into the darkness she was finally able to release the breath that she had been holding. She felt her heart beating fast against her chest. WHy was she so agitated?

"One of your bigger friends, I take…"

Leon's voice made her snap out of her trance. She turned around and found him staring right at her. For a second she saw the worry in his face.

"Not...exactly." she replied "This one is...different."

"We didn't see anything like it during day time, so either we were lucky or our assumption is correct."

"That only come out at night. Talk about nightmares. I am just glad it didn't find us, but I've got the feeling that our luck is not gonna be for long."

Claire bit her lower lip in thought.

"Well face it when the time comes, until then, don't worry about it." Leon told her soothingly " How are you feeling?"

"Me?" she said surprised.

"You can't fool me, Claire. You've been struggling since that climb we did."

She should have known that Leon would notice. Claire let out a weak snort and shook her head.

"Told you I didn't like hiking." she replied with a half smile"I'm okay. My head bothers me when I'm tired. You know how concussions work..."

Leon's expression was unreadable. She couldn't tell what he was thinking, but Claire had the feeling that he hadn't quite believed her.

"Yeah, try resting a little. "

"I had my share of sleep yesterday. You must be exhausted though. You're the one who should be taking a nap."

"I work better with less sleep."

Now he was the one lying. Leon could be the best agent in the U.S ,but he was still human.

"Liar…Get some sleep idiot."

"Only if I get to use your lap as pillow..:"

Claire's lips curled into an unconscious smile as she playfully smacked his arm. Leon was still a charmer after all. He knew how to sweet talk, and she had to admit that his looks were an useful tool, too.

" You're such a flirt. Go to sleep, Leon. "

Leon laughed and his laugh somehow made her feel better. It was silly, but if he could still laugh, it meant that things could actually be okay, or at least, that was what Claire hoped.

" _You know that's not the case. You could die in here or even worse...he could die in front of your eyes."_

Claire rubbed her face. That little voice in her head was beginning to annoy her and she doubted that it was an effect of the concussion. The stress was probably starting to play tricks on her. She'd just ignore it.

"I missed this." she heard him sigh.

She let out out a sarcastic chuckle before giving him one of her usual retorts.

"Sleeping in a cave surrounded by bloodthirsty parasites and other horrors, mmm...yeah, I really needed it, too."

Claire heard Leon mutter something, but she could make out what his words were; when the man did not talk again, she knew he had fallen asleep. A victorious smirk was drawn in her face and it was a pity that he was asleep and it'd been to dark for him to see it.

 _Well of course you'd fall asleep. Liar…_ she thought, but she didn't resent it. The man had let her sleep through the night yesterday, he now deserved the she kind of felt lonely. The silence felt ...uncomfortable.

Claire hugged her knees and rested her back against the rocky wall. A few rays of light crawled into the cave through the holes in Leon's improvised door and a shudder ran down her back. Somewhere out there was that horrible monster, or even worse, many of them. Why were these people so fascinated with the idea of creating such horrible things? For all she knew B.O.W's couldn't be controlled; they didn't recognize enemies from foes, they killed anything in their way and they destroyed everything. What made of that a good weapon?

Her gaze soon went from the light at the entrance to the sleeping blond in front of her. She felt a little guilty for dragging him into that mess, but at the same time she was happy that he was there. If she was on her own she'd probably lose her mind.

" _You're happy, but you know he could die and if he died here, you'd know it was all your fault."_ the annoying little voice said in her head " _He's only here because he tried to save you. You were the one they wanted, not him. Now he's stuck in here…"_

Claire shook her head trying to clear up her mind; that little voice was making her anxious, and it didn't help that she knew it was right. Leon wasn't supposed to be here. THe abductors had come to get her, he just got caught by an unfortunate coincidence. Another thought suddenly crossed her mind: Chris and the others, what if they too had been dragged into troubles because of her?

 _Get a hold of yourself, Claire. Thinking like that is not gonna help you._ She scolded herself as she looked at his sleeping partner. _How do I end up in these horrible situations all the time?_

Claire didn't get the chance to reflect on that thought. She felt a cold shiver ran down her back and her head automatically turned in the direction of the entrance. She listened carefully, she could hear Leon's soft breathing, but the rest was quiet. No howls, no screams, no animals...Everything seemed tranquil. Then why did she feel alarmed?

Her ears soon caught a sound that she hadn't noticed until then. It was a soft distant whistle. The sound was soft and hypnotic; almost as if it was calling at her. Without realizing it, she had gotten on her feet; but before she had reached the entrance, she snapped back to reality. She stood there confused staring at the complicated net of branches and leaves that Leon had knitted earlier.

 _What am I doing?_ she thought.

Unable to explain how she had suddenly appear standing in front of the entrance, Claire was about to return to her spot at the end of the cave, but before she had even given a step, she heard a loud crack of breaking stone and she felt her body been pulled strongly outside. Her body has crashed against the cave's cover door and the branches managed to scratch the patches on naked skin unprotected by clothing leaving red marks over the milkish skin. The woman rolled a few feets before stopping and pushing herself up. As she stared up before her, her eyes went wide in horror and her hands gripped the rifle that she hadn't even realized she'd been holding. Without thinking twice she aimed and shot.


	12. Chapter 12

Another chapter with some Claire and Leon interaction. I like writing those two. This is how I picture their interactions (if there were any) in the game. Hopefully you'll like it too.

Don't forget to leave me your thoughts!

Disclaimer: I own nothing!

* * *

 _Leon_

Leon had been half asleep. His years of service had taught him to be always on his toes and so he had become a light sleeper. He was used to be awaken by random unpleasant surprises, however, the way he had woken this time made him loose a few years of life.

He had heard a loud crack, followed by a soft female groan and then the cave had began shaking. His eyes snapped open and he was inmediately on his fit with his hadgun in hand. His eyes quicklu scanned the cave. Claire was gone, the cavern entrance's cover had been broken apart and he could hear gunshots coming from outside and that was never a good sign.

"Shit…" he mumbled.

He could hear the echo of gun shots coming from outside and his hear skipped a beatas he ran to the caverns entrance ready to shoot off some heads.

"Leon S. Kennedy! Don't you dare come out now!" he head Claire scream at him.

Don't come out? Was she insane? He wasn't going to let her fight whatever that thing was all on her own. He saw the younger Redfiel standing a few meters away from the cave. Her auburn hari was messy and filled with leaves and branches. She must have rolled on the ground. She had her rifle aimed and his direction and her expression was a miz of horror and shock.

"Leon that thing is right over you. If you come out know, it won't be good..." Claire shouted again, he heard another round of gunshots "I'll lure it away! As soon as the path is clear you can come give me hand!"

Like hell he would. Claire had moved further away and he waited a couple minutes for Claire's sign, but as it never came he gripped his handguns and ran out the cave as fast he could. What he saw outside was worse than what he'd imagined. The creature wasn't the same they had seen earlier, it was bigger, uglier and even more threatening. It moved like a human-spider crawling over the surface; just like the others they'd seen so far, the creatures had no features in its face except one oversized mouth filled with fangs. Suddenlly, he caught a glimpse of red that he recognised as Claire, running right to him.

"Leon! Thanks god, you're out" she panted.

"Are you okay?" He asked as he examined her under the dim moonlight. She didn't look hurt and he felt relieved.

"I'm fine...we don't have time for that,Mr. agent. We have an issue here..."

"I noticed...a new friend?"

"Sure...and the bastard isn't leaving me alone without a fight. Want to be a nice friend and help me?"

" What are friends for?"

The fight against the thing was hard, they wasted a lot of ammo and the beast didn't seem to flinch. The silence of the night was filled with the sound of gunshots, roars and screams. The creature was tough and after a few minutes of fruitless fight, Leon knew that they had little chances to defeat it. THey were wasting themselves and precious ammo.

"Shit…" he groaned putting more ammo in his gun "This one is no joke. "

"Any plan, Mr. Agent?" Claire panted covering him.

Run, that was all he could think at the time. With some luck, they could use the trees and the terrain to their advantage and loose it. Maybe they'd stumble with some of the locals and that would distract the horrendous thing. It was a high bet, but it was better than wasting ammo and having the thing kill them eventualy.

"Let's run. Save the ammo unless it is necessary…"

Claire nodded at him and both turned around and began running as fast as they could through the woods. They could heard the groans and steps of the monster chasing them, but either of them wanted to stop and see how far it was. Their race came to an abrupt end when they found themselves in front of a high cliff, the only way across was an old hanging bridge that wagged too much for his comfort.

 _Fuck comfort_. He thought as he and Claire ran through. The damn thing kept moving and moving, making it hard to advance without tripping and falling down into a certain death. Either they were caught and killed, or they fell. None of the options were appealing.

The creature had already caught with them; it seemed to hesitate with the bridge, but Leon knew that its hesitation wouldn't last for long.

"We are almost there, Claire. Hurry."

The woman didn't answer, she was almost breathless when they reached the end of the bridge. The monster was halfway of it, and without doubting it to much, Leon pulled out his knife and cut of the ropes. The effect was instantaneous, the bridge broke down under the weight of its horrible body and they saw, with some relief, how it vanished into the darkness of the cliff.

 _Well...at least that worked._

Leon checked himself. His wounds were numerous, but all of them were mostly scratches and not life threatenig. He was relieved to see that Claire was in a similar condition. Her clothes had been torn in many parts, he saw blood on there, but, like his, they seemed to be small scratches. There was something that worried him, though. Claire's concussion was already worrying and he didn't know if the new hits had added on the original damage.

"Claire…"

She didn't answer, she was catching up her breath with her look completely distant.

"Claire, talk to me…"

"I'm all right…" she replied in a shaky voice that made him frown "Just...a little shocked and breathless. Give me a minute…"

Leon nodded. Her reply seemed reasonable. While Claire was recovering, he decided to scout around for a bit. It was too dark to make out anything, but they needed to find a safe spot for the rest of the night. After that thing's attack, he wasn't in mood to cross paths with another unfriendly found a small building a few steps from them. It seemed like a storage room; the door was locked with a chain, but Leon could easily break them and pushed the door open. The place was small, dusty and filled with boxes whose contents were undistinguishable with the lack of light. It wasn't pretty nor comfortable, but it looked safe enough, at least until dawn.

The young agent made sure to lock the door before letting himself fall to the cold floor next to Claire; he rested his back against the wall and looked at the redhead on his side. She seemed to be recovering her breath slowly and was busy trying to fix her redish locks; he could see her shouders move as she tried to easy the rythm of her breathing.

"Nice look..." he whispered teasingly as he pulled a stick out of the mess of burgundy locks.

"Haha..." Claire said sarcasticly "I think I lost my hair tie. Just great..."

"I actually find it nice. You should wear it down more often..."

"You gotta be kidding..." Claire blurted shaking her head and laughing "We're in a crisis here and you can still flirt..."

"Just being honest here..."

Claire shoke her hair a little, throwing a bunch of leaves over his lap.

"Don't mock my hair Mr. Perfect hair all the time" she snorted while she rubbed her arms; an action that didn't pass unnoticed by his sharp eyes.

 _Of course, she's cold._

Unlike him, Claire had failed to bring a jacket and her current outfit wasn't exactly warm. Hughesville had been in the middle of summer, and naturally, Claire had been wearing a casual and fresher attire that didn't suit the cooler weather of their current location.

Leon was suddenly taken aback when Claire bent over in a sudden coughing fit,but he could do nothing more than rub her back in a comforting way.

"Thanks" she said "I don't know what was that for."

"You're cold…" he commented.

"A little, blame Hughesville for being in summer. I regret leaving my jacket in my office now…"

"You can have mine then…" he replied taking off the piece of clothing and putting it over her shoulders.

"You'll be cold now…"she complained, but he noticed the soft hint of gratitude in her voice.

"I'll bear with it."

"You're going to make me feel guilty. At least stay close, we can warm each other."

"Is that an invitation?"

"Don't push it Kennedy, Chris isn't the only one with a good hook."

Leon laughed. He'd never doubt about Claire being a dangerous woman to mess with, but somehow, he felt like teasing Claire was a good way to relax, considering their current predicament. Even if she had made herself sound angry, he could feel her body relax by his side.

"Are you okay? You didn't hit your head again when I wasn't looking, did you?"

"I don't think so…" she replied " Not that hard, at least."

She had laughed at the last statement, but he wasn't weren't dangerous, but if she kept getting hits, that concussion could grow into something worst. Leon felt Claire's head fall on his shoulder, but he was aware that she was still awake.

"Sorry...my headache is killing me. I am starting to feel dizzy again."

"That's fine. You can pay me back with your lap next time."

She laughed and the sound of her laugh was sort of comforting.

"How long will it take Chris to come? Don't get me wrong, I am enjoying my time with you, but I'd rather do this somewhere without B.O.W's and without a killer migraine piercing my skull."

"I have to admit, I'd love that, too. We still need to meet up in normal conditions, Claire."

"I am starting to suspect that, that meeting will never happen."

"We will make it happen. Maybe we can grab a bite when we are out of here?"

"That sounds splendid…" she chuckled, but he soon heard her laugh die away. "I am sorry, Leon."

"What are you apologising for?"

"You shouldn't be here. It was me who they wanted…"

"Don't be stupid. I am glad that I am here with you. That way I can make sure that you'll make it homE."

"Yeah...of course." she said softly "Barry still owes me that lunch. I just hope it wonn't be a sandwich, though.."

"You can get it when we return. Oh, and you should treat me for dinner, too. After all this mess, I might deserve it."

"Sure. I can do that…"

"How about some home cooking? Chris was bragging about your amazing cooking skills and yet I've never tasted it before."

"You got to be kidding me..." she sighed "Well fine, I will cook for you, but I warn you, don't expect anything too fancy. I haven't cooked in a while."

Their talk about food made him remember how thin she was. Claire hadn't been fat to begin with, but something about her appearance now was unsettling. She was a little underweighted or at least that's what he felt. Maybe she had been skipping meals due to work; he just hoped it wasn't something serious.

"Want to sleep?" he whispered.

"Not yet, I need the adrenaline to go down first. We could...talk, in the meantime, unless you want to sleep..."

"Nah, talking doesn't sound bad. I don't usually get friendly chatting during missions, but I can't say it isn't a nice change."

"Then tell me about the misadventures of the great agent Kennedy. I bet you get to save tons on damsels in distress each time. You seem to have experience saving my butt."

"I don't think the tittle damsel in distress and Claire Redfield go well in the same sentence. You are the one saving my ass all the time."

"Maybe years ago, but I can't beat your experience; so...what was your last mission?"

Leon knew that Claire was probably doing casual chatting by asking about his job. She would always do that and avoid the subject of her own misadventures. She probably had her reasons to avoid the topic, but he was as curious as she was about what she had done in th elast past years, and he probably wouldn't get a chance to talk to her that openly when they got home and her brotherhoarding over her.

"Nothing worth talking about. After the incidents from two years ago, I've only gotten minor tasks."

"It was a tough thing for you guys. Chris was broken when he came back and I imagine you were, too. I heard about what happened in Tall Oaks. We lost many of our people there and I wished we could have done more, but the organization was in chaos at the time, too."

"That's fine. I think I've got over it."

It wasn't entirely true though,he hadn't quite gotten over it. He'd had his mourning period;but that didn't mean that the memories didn't hurt, he had lost more things than he could had ever imagined in one single night.

"I am sorry I made you remember that. I can see it still hurts. "

Leon wondered how was that Claire could see that. He knew the woman was very perceptive and even when she didn't hit the nail all the time, she was usually never to far from it.

"What about you, miss head of branch?"

"Don't sweat it. I didn't want that job to begin with, but after many….circumstances, I decided to accept it."

"Got tired of hunting zombies and mutants?"

"Not quite. I just realized how many glitches TerraSave's structure had. It was nothing that I could fix with the power I had at the time, but I could do it if I was head of branch. It was...tough, convincing the higher ups, of course; but at the end, they all saw the reason behind it."

"Your promotion was actually a recent thing, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, a little less than a year. My last mission was in a island in South America. Another testing field concocted by Umbrella's remaining lackeys."

Leon remembered hearing something about that. He hadn't read the report though, but he had heard about a group of famous models that had been slaughtered in an island by a viral outbreak and B.O.W's running rampage. However, he had missed Claire's name from it.

"You...were there?"

"Yeah, after that I was named head of NA Branch. I haven't been active at field since then, but I don't plan to stay like that. As soon as I finish with all the work I've got, I'll be back field work."

He could somehow picture it. Just like Chris, Claire was a person of action and not someone who stayed all day behind a desk signing papers. Leon wondered if if was a family treat and if perhaps their parents had been like that ,too.

"I took me a couple of years to see things clearly. TerraSave needed a change if we wanted the organization to fill the purpose it was created for. So far it wasn't doing such a great job and it was disappointing. I guess we were all biased and unable to see the breaches in there. It took me a couple of hard hits to come clear with it, and that's how I ended where I am."

"Maybe that is the reason you were targeted. "

"Maybe? By now I wouldn't be surprised if we had a traitor in our side. It wouldn't be the first…" she sighed bitterly "Unfortunately that is not something I can control. I am not psychic to see what goes into everyone's heads after all, but I've learn to not put my whole trust into people."

Leon was perplexed about that, but he then rememeber a report he had read years ago, one concerning Claire and TerraSave. A group of people had been abducted during a party, there had been only three survivors among them Claire. Acording to the file, the abduction had been orchestrated by a man name Neil Fisher, who was the former head of NA Branch and Claire's predecesor.

"You wouldn't be refering to the events of Sushestviviane, are you?"

"You got me there. I guess I could blame it on Neil that I am no longer able to trust people. I cared about him and trusted him with my life, just to be sold to Wesker for a sample of Ouroboros."

Leon caught the bitterness in her words and he couldn't help but wonder if there had been something more than a mere friendship there, but as he knew Claire, he chose not to ask.

"There are still people you can trust, though."

 _Like me._ He thought.

"Yes, I know. Feel proud, Kennedy. You are among the first ones in my list, right next to Chris."

"So you trust me as much as you trust your brother."

"Well yeah, who knows if I would be here without you, rookie..."

Claire had suddenly fallen quiet. She seemed to be lost in her thoughts and unlike Claire, he wasn't that perceptive so he had no idea what was going through the redhead's mind.

"So...Mr. Agent, what now?"

"Same plan as before. We get to that house, figure out what's going on here and we leave."

"I don't like being the pessimist in here, but what what if we find more of my friends in there?"

"We can handle it. What's another B.O.W to us? I'll watch your back and you'll watch mine, that worked pretty well in Raccoon."

"Bet on that. You know I will take a bullet for you."

"Yeah, but I wouldn't want that, so you better don't go doing anything crazy, Redfield."

"Goes the same for you."

Leon did not reply, he pulled his mobile from his pocket and began fidgeting with it. Just as he expected the signal was off, which meant he had no means to contact Hunnigan.

"There must be something interfering the signal."

"Well guess that shouldn't surprise us. " Claire replied peeking over his shoulder at the mobile "How's that they didn't take it from you?"

"I guess our terrorist group isn't bright." he replied pushing the mobile back into his pocket "You need to rest now."

"Yeah, I'll take that offer…"

Leon felt Claire curl at his side and it took her a couple sighs before the woman had fallen deeply sleep. He took a look of her sleeping form and stroke a couple hair strands from her face. Took what it took, he would bring Claire home safely.


	13. Chapter 13

If there's something I always loved was the sibling relationship between Claire and Chris. I loved that little scene in Code Veronica X where they are reunited and also loved when Claire called him for help in the manga ( too bad he was busy and had to send Parker tho)

I would love to see a game where the siblings were reunited. My head canon is that Chris is this macho guy with a soft spot for his sister XD.

Anyway...please enjoy. Don't forget to leave me your thoughts

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

 _Chris_

Irritation was beyond what he was currently feeling. He and Alpha team had been preparing to leave for Leon's location point when a second wave of B.O.W's attacked the city. The emergency call required their inmediate response, and Alpha team's departure was pushed back, much to Chris dismay. His sister was somewhere in the middle nowhere at the other side of the planet most likely in great danger, and the damn mutants were preventing him from going to her rescue.

The second wave of attacks was in a bigger scale than the first one, but with the civilians evacuated, B.S.A.A had been granted permission to not hold fire. The city was engulfed in a sea fire and destruction that brought him a bunch of bad memories and what he hated the most was that his little sister would return to find her home destroyed by his hand, more or less.

"Fuck those terrorists" Barry's annoyed growl sounded somewhere close to his side. They had barricaded themselves in a building as they shot a horde of j'avo that had decided to open fire on them "Can't I just throw them a grenade and end with their pathetic zombie asses?"

"More like mutant, insect asses, Barry." Jill corrected him.

"What's our status?" Chris groaned as he replaced the cartridge of his machine gun.

"Surrounded. These bastards won't give us a break." Jill replied.

"Have they ever done such a thing?" Barry spitted in annoyance.

"Get down...I'm using one of these."

Following Barry's early suggestion, Chris pulled off one of the grenades security locks and threw it againt the j'avos. The thing exploded sending the foes flying in pieces.

"Well that surely worked" Jill approved.

"Yeah, why didn't we do that from the beginning?ed."Barry growled.

Chris had been about to articulate a response to that when he was interrupted by th sizzing of his radio.

"HQ to Redfield, do you copy?"

"Redfield here."

"Redfield, a large scale B.O.W has been spoted north from your position. We sent team Betta to size it, but we lost contact with them 10 minutes ago. We need you and Alpha Team to take check on that situation.."

"Understood. We will take a look. Redfield out."

Chris pushed his radio back into his utility belt and turned to the rest of team. Barry looked at hum grumpily and shook his head.

"So we get to do babysitting, huh?" Barry sighed "Soldiers these days are useless."

"You sound like a cranky old man, Barry..." Jill teased.

"I'm stating a fact. I don't remember our men being such a joke when when we started at this..."

"Not everyone can be like you or Chris, Barry."

"I should suggest some new training plans when this shit is over..."

" I am sure there is a lot of things we can do when this shit is over. For now, let's deal with this crap first. I still got to get Claire back."

"Relax, big brother. Claire is a tough cookie who knows how to take care of herself. The girl has survived three zombie apocalypses" Barry chuckled "She might even be tougher than you despite being a girl."

"Hey, don't underestimate a woman." Jill smirked faking and offended glare.

"Of course I do not. Don't forget I live surrounded by four. I am always on the losing side..."

Jill laughed imagining how life in the Burton house probably was.

"Either way, Barry is right , Claire won't die so easily, she's a Redfield and Redfields are hard to kill; and don't forget Kennedy is with her. Besides, if she comes back to this mess, she won't be very happy with you, Chris."

Chris snorted. He could picture Claire's pissed look as she complained about him rushing to rescue her and leaving her beloved city at the mercy of a B.O.W. attack. Jill was right, she'd definitely be pissed at him; and he knew better than to provoke his little sister's fury.

"Well then, let's clean up this city. If there is something I fear in this world that is Claire when she's angry."

He wasn't lying and he actually found it amusing. He could face a war, survive a zombie apocalipse, fight horrifying mutants, and yet, he couldn't stand his sister's glare or tears or...anything she did, actually. Barry had always laughed saying that he had some sort of sister complex, but more than a sister complex, it was a soft spot for her. She was his baby sister no matter how old she grew, and she had certain privileges that no one else in the world would ever get on him.

"Heh, I wonder how scary can the little Redfield be if she can actually make that almighty Chris Redfield to be scared. " Barry laughed "Is she really that scary? I've never seen her mad."

"That's becauses she's the sort of woman who wouldn't get mad unless you did something truly despicable" Chris commented.

"Ow...and what exactly did you do to anger her?" Jill asked curiously.

"I am her brother...I am exception. She always gets mad at me." he said as he shot a couple of mutated j'avos that had been chasing them.

"So you get the privilege to feel her anger for small things."Barry asked shooting another group of infected "I don't envy you at all, pal; and wait til you get married. Your wife will team up with Claire and make you miserable. I know what I tell you. When my girls team up against me is worst than fighting off zombies."

Chris wondered about that. He couldn't imagine how bad that would be and he heard Jill amused laugh.

"This might be the first time I'll see Chris scared at all."

The two soldiers broke unto a fit of laughter and Chris rolled his eyes.

"You two….stop it already." Chris growled grumpily "Focus on the mission!"

"Well excuse me for trying to lighten the mood." Barry chuckled "I think this is the place, isn't it?"

Chris looked around. The place was deadly quiet and there were no signs of the soldiers...or zombies. He signaled Jill and Barry to be alert and both of them nodded as they took position with their weapons ready. Chris walked into the place looking around with his weapon raised. So far there were no signs of the B.O.W., but he noticed something lying a couple feet from him.

"Redfield here, I've found the members of Team Betta. The situation is bad. I'll look for survivors."

"Understood, be careful team Alpha."

Chris walked cautiously around the bodies and he felt disgusted. The men had been totally slaughtered, their bodies had been complety cut open and many of them had missing parts. He was sad to say it, but he really doubted that there were any survivors from Team Betta.

"Chris watch out!" Jill voice shouted out of sudden.

Chris turned around in time to dodge a large reddish blur that jumped over him. The man rolled over his side and got back with his gun raised and shoot the B.O.W. that had just attacked him. He could hear Barry and Jill shooting at it too and the silence was broken by a wild roar.

"Watch out, I think this thing might be the one who slaughtered the whole team Betta."

"What the fuck is that thing?" Barry growled.

Chris had no idea either. The creature infront of them was something they had never encountered before. It looked lik a giant meaty caterpillar with four long paws that ended in curling tentacles. There was a long slash on its was filled by long yellowish fangs, the drool was dripping disgustingly from it. The three of them were shooting endless at it as the thing jumped from a wall to the other roaring.

The trio rolled over the ground dodging the whipping tentacles. The creature, despite lacking eyes, was easily tracking their movements. Chris had showered the meaty body with a wave of bullets, but the thing didn't seem to be affected. The creature roared once more showing a second row of yellow fangs and a bifid black tongue.

"What an ugly face. Makes me wanna punch it."

"You are welcome to blow it up, Barry." Jill said.

"Heh..thought you'd never say it."

Barry pulled out one of his grenades and threw it into the B.O.W. The first grenade barely missed the creature, but the explosion effect manage to hurt it and thow it on the ground. Taking advantage of its vulnerable position Barry threw a second grenade directly at it as Jill and Chris kept shooting at it. The explosion raised a large flame and when the fumes had disipated, the monster laid dead and half scorched.

"Well, there you have it. Nothing can do against a well aimed grenade... "

"What the hell is this thing?" Jill said with a disgusted look.

"Guess it is Neo-Umbrella's new toy. " Chris said kicking the corpse to take a look. "Team Alpha here. We found the B.O.W that attacked Betta Team. It's been taken care of. We found no survivors from Team Betta though..."

"Those are unfortunate news. Understood, team Alpha. Return to HQ. You've been given new orders."

"What new orders, sir? If I may ask..." Jill said looking at Chris with a frown.

"We've received intel from a member from the F.O.S concerning the location of agent Kennedy. The place might be testing grounds for developing B.O.W.s"

"Just great , another santa's factory of B.O.W." Barry mumbled bitterly. Chris knew the man was still bothered by what had happened to his daughter two years ago. Heck, he was mad, too. They had taken Claire once, and they had taken her again and right under his nose. Those fucking bastards would have to pay.

"You've been ordered to rescue and investigate the place. An aircraft is waiting for you at the power building. You are too depart asap."

"Understood. We are on our way."

Chris looked at his companions. His face was twisted in a angry look. Those damned terrorists would pay if they touched a single hair of his sister, and he wasn't kidding.

"Leon...Claire. We are coming for you."


	14. Chapter 14

I made Claire such a nerd. But i don't know, I think I think that virologist profile would fit her nicely. SHe is a smart girl after all. I am a microbiologist in Real life, so I actually enjoy writing Claires rambling. Virus are fascinating things :)

Anyway, Hope you enjoy this chapter. Remember to leave me a Review.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

 _Claire_

She had never felt so happy to wake up with the sunlight hitting at her face the way it did that morning. They didn't dare leaving the storage house until the first rays of light hadn't come out from the horizon. In part because they had wanted a little more rest and in part because they didn't want to risk the chance of meeting another of those horrible creatures.

With the light, they could finally see what was inside the storage room and dfter checking the contents of the boxes, they had come across some supplues that included more weapons, ammo, a first aid kit and flash lights. The weapons were quite old and Claire knew they probably weren't as fancy as the ones Leon was used to, but it was better than nothing. They had also found some cans of food and water that weren't yet due. The food wasn't anything elegant, just some canned fruits, but the carbohydrates were welcomed by their drained bodies and empty stomachs. Claire had instantly felt a little more energetic after the small and humble meal and she had to admit that compared to other times, she appreciated the locals for storing the food in that place. She would have thanked them, if they hadn't been turned into parasyte controlled zombies, of course.

With their new gear, stock and a full stomach, the duo had started their walk to the mysterious manor. So far their way had been calm: only interrupted by a couple of the unfriendly locals that were quickly disposed off.

Claire noticed that the closer they got to the manor, the quieter the forest became. Somehow that made her uncomfortable. The lack of sound was simply antinatural and maybe it was her paranoia, but she felt observed and she was half expecting another sudden monster to jump over them. She could tell, Leon's thoughts weren't too far from her own as the man moved stealthy and alert at all times.

 _Nobody would think that, some years ago, this same man was a scared rookie cop trying to survive a city filled with zombies._ The thought of how much he had grown and become better drew a smile on Claire's face. _Just what are you feeling so proud about?_

To tell the truth, she often felt proud about others, even if it wasn't really something she was supposed to do. She was proud of her brother, like hell, how wouldn't she? The man had saved many lives in the last few years; she was also proud of Moira, the girl had gotten over her fear of guns and trained under her father's look; she was also proud of Natalia, the child was having a normal life and she had made it through all the horrors of her past and she was very proud of Sherry, she'd heard from Chris that the girl had become an agent like Leon, and despite she would have wished for the girl to live a normal life, she respected her decision. Of course, she was proud of Leon sucessful career as an agent.

"There it is." Leon's voice broke into her thoughts and Claire stopped dryly staring at the manor ahead "It certainly gives me bad vibes..."

An unpleasant flashback ran through her head as she remember the Ashford's Residence, but as she watched the house more carefully, she realized that the place was different. This house looked older and the gray walls were covered by ivy and moss. More than a manor, it looked more like a castle. A quick scan around convinced them that there was no one around.

"Guess our friends of Neo-Umbrella didn't wait for us..." Leon whispered.

"Well, knowing their sense hospitality, they probably left some of their pets behind to receive us though."

"Most likely. That sounds like something they would do... We'll have to take a look and find out. I think the thing jamming the sign of my phones is in there, if we can deactivate it, I can contact Hunnigan and maybe we can figure out something about what they were doing in here."

"All right, let's take a look. What could go wrong, right?"

 _A lot of things._ the annoying little voice in her haid muttered.

The duo made their way to the house with extreme caution, the place was deserted. The only evidence about people ever been in there was the mess inside: furniture was turned over or broken, papers wer scattered all over the floor along other decor accesories. Claire found blood stains in some of the walls and she shuddered. Maybe their "friends" hadn't left after all, but something had gotten them before they arrived.

"Now this looks ominous. Why are there so many papers in here?"

"They seems like medical records, but the papers are too messed up to actually read them." she said picking some of the scattered sheets. The pages were blurred out with humidity and some had red stains that covered half of the text.

"Knowing this guys, there's probably a electronic record somewhere. We just need to find the computer." Leon replied looking around the rooms with his gun raised "There are signs of struggle. I guess they didn't leave in good terms…"

That if they had actually made it out alive.

"There's too much blood. Do you think one of their pets went havoc?"

"Most likely, maybe it was the one that attacked us last night."

Claire picked a folder that was laying over a table. The yellowish surface was darkened by dried stains of blood, but she ignored it and flipped through its contents. Her face tensed as her eyes traveled over the printed letters.

"They were making a new virus. " she said angrily "This people don't ever learn that you shouldn't mess up with nature."

"Any idea of what sort of virus that is?"

"No...this seems more like …genetic blueprints" Claire replied "RNA virus sequences and possible recombinations with other viral agents. I'm taking these, it might be useful later. I can look into it when get back to TerraSave.."

"Didn't know you had a liking for this sort of mad scientist stuff. Didn't picture you like a science girl..."

"You know, I did finish college before I joined TerraSave." Claire laughed.

"So I heard, but I never asked what you majored, now that I think about it."

"Oh, so you didn't check my background?" Claire replied pretty surprised.

"I don't do that with friends. It's easier to ask, so...what did you major?"

"Biology and life sciences. Did a specialization in virology after joining TerraSave." she replied checking another pile of folders "Never thought I'd get so much into viruses, but you'd be amazed how many outbreaks TerraSave attend and for worse or good, not all of them involve zombies. GOing into virology sounded reasonable, logical and useful. "

Claire crescent interest in viruses had lead to her chosing a virology specialization. She had thought that it would come in handy while working in TerraSave. THe organization had been founded as a countermeasure to terrorist attacks, however, as time went by, TerraSave began attending other cases including viral outbreaks in affected zones. As an active rescuer at the time, Claire had actively participated in those operatives and that made her interested in the topic. After thirteen years working in the organization, Claire was a pretty respectable professional. She wasn't a prodigy as Saya or Rebecca, but her observations and criticisms were taken very seriously; and she had been given the chance to work en her own projects.

"Never pictured you like a bookworm, but it seems I was mistaken."

"Another con on my side, I guess. Relationship wise..."

"I doubt it. Nothing wrong with a smart woman. I actually find it much more appealing. So, does your scientific vision give you a lead of what we have here?"

"Unfortunately, nothing clear. There's a lot of things you can do with genomes and some genetic engineering. I am a not a biosynthetic engineer, but this looks like design proposals? We have someone in HQ who could see through it or maybe in B.S.A.A. I want take look in the the digital records; if we are lucky, there might be something left in there. What about your signal jam?"

"I think I might have found the cause. Up there in the tower, there seems to be an athena of some 's a good lead..."

"Guess we found our next stop. Let's go, I've got the feeling that I don't want to be around when the night falls."

"Always trust female sixth sense."

Claire followed Leon through the house. The absence of hostiles was welcome, but at the same time made her wonder what could have happened to them. They found more papers on their way, but nothing that could give them a clue of what had taken place in that place. After a while, they finally arrived to the tower. The place seemed to be the security command center as it was filled with screens and computers. Leon got himself busy as he started to work on the athena right away. Without much else to do, Claire decided to take a look in the server and see if she could get her hands on any interesting data while Leon tried to fix his communication line.

 _Well, let's see what you kept in here._

Claire began typing. She wasn't a techie as Wallace, so her skills as a hacker were very poor, but to her susrpise, the security around the server was much more lax than she would have imagined. Or maybe she was to used to her paranoid overestimatied security system in TerraSave. Sadly, these computers weren't linked to the research datalog, however it gave her information about the facility they were in. Just as expected, there was a large underground structure underneath the mansion; the security system provided a clear 3D blueprint of the structure: research room, animal essays, laboratories…Everything was pinpointed in the screen.

 _What the hell were they researching in here?_

Claire checked into the security protocols; typical procedures designed for facilities handling potentially pandemic agents. She was familiar to them, a few year before she had made an adaptation of those protocols in order to design an effective plan of contention in case of bioterrorist attacks. Nothing that could be useful to find out what she wanted, but she did find something that caught her attention.

 _Damn , if only Wallace was here. He could probably hack into the central system and get me that information._

"I think I got it." Leon's voice made her look away from the screen "I have the signal back. I'll try to contact Hunningan."

"That's great news…!"

"What about you? Did you find anything?"

"No and yes. I managed to hack into the security system, but the servers aren't linked so I have no access to research data from here. I did get a nice blueprint of the facility, though. Just look at this, the main research area is right underneath us, which is not surprising at all. I also checked the security protocols and from that I can say they were doing _in_ vivo essays and I found something alarming and unexpected...actually."

"How come?"

"They have viral repository in here. It is curious, because with the T-virus, C-virus and all that new strains that Umbrella had been spreading, most bioterrorist had dropped the use of traditional pathogenic weapons."

"By traditional you mean…?"

"Regular viral agents: influenza, Nipah Virus, chickenpox, ebola… Ring a bell? They also have a bacteria stock, too... Anthrax, Turberculosis...MRSA..." she said scrolling down the screen " Basically Level 3 and 4 pathogens. Just what the hell were they doing here?"

" If you don't know, neither do I. Can you get the information from here?"

"Sorry to disappoint you, but I am a virologist, not a hacker. The information should have a back up in the central server, but I am not skilled enough to break through thier encryption to get it. We would need a vicious hacker for that and the only one I know is somewhere in Hughesville."

"So in other words if we want that data we'll need to go down there."

"Very sharp, Kennedy."

"Well, I guess we should bring some company down there." Leon commented pulling his mobile to his ear. "Hunnigan… I need a favor."


	15. Chapter 15

A little CLEON for those who like this ship I think Leon may be getting the hint, but I'll let you decide that.

DOn't forget to leave me your thoughts.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

 _Leon_

He'd never liked old fashioned houses and this one certainly made him uncomfortable. He checked each room with his gun raised, but nothing human or non human seemed to lurk in the corridors of the place. He did noticed the signs of struggle, and despite the absence of corpses, he could tell that the inhabitants of the manor were most likely dead. As they walked he noticed how Claire rumbled curiously through the papers that lied scattered over the place. She seemed to have caught interest in file she had found lying on a desk. He had never taken Claire for a bookworm, but she certainly was.

He knew Claire was a smart woman and a good fighter, too; but her inclination had always been to the brain side rather than muscle, reason why she'd chosen her current job rather than following her brother's steps. Claire gone to college and graduated a little after the incidents of Raccoon, he knew that. She had mentioned once in a phone call, but their conversations rarely focused on mundane things.

 _It's easy to forget normal questions if each time we bump to each other it seems like the world is about to end._

When she told him that she had graduated from biology and taken a virology specialty, he couldn't help but see the irony in there; however, he did notice Claire's enthusiasm as she explained her reasons and, somehow, he thought it suited her. She was someone born to help the world, after all. Now, with the possibility of a new virus, he could understand why she was so interested on finding out what sort of research had been done in there.

He , too, wanted to know. If there was any potential threat out there, he'd do anything to prevent it. He'd never allow a third tragedy after Raccoon and Tall Oaks if he could help it; but, for the time being, his main objective would be dismantling whatever thing was jamming his signal. He wanted to contact Hunnigan as soon as possible.

When they reached the tower he'd immediately started to work on the antenna. He noticed that Claire paced around the room until she finally setled in front of one od the computers and began typing into it.

 _Smart and lethal. Guess I see why men would feel intimidated if they could pass the first filter._ He thought and chuckled at the image of a very threatening Chris scaring off any of his sister's potential love interests. A sudden thought crossed his mind. How would chris have reacted if he had tried to court Claire?

The thought made him grin and in the middle of his thoughts, his mobile made soft beeping sound letting he know the signal was back. Now he just needed to get a hold on Hunningan.

"I think I got it."I have the signal back. I'll try to contact Hunningan."

"That's great news…!"

"What about you? Did you find anything?"

"No and yes. I managed to hack into the security system, but the servers aren't linked so I have no access to research data from here. I did get a nice blueprint of the facility, though. Just look at this, the main research area is right underneath us, which is not surprising at all. I also checked the security protocols and from that I can say they were doing _in_ vivo essays and I found something alarming and unexpected...actually."

"How come?"

"They have viral repository in here. It is curious, because with the T-virus, C-virus and all that new strains that Umbrella had been spreading, most bioterrorist had dropped the use of traditional pathogenic weapons."

"By traditional you mean…?"

"Regular viral agents: influenza, Nipah Virus, chickenpox, ebola… Ring a bell? They also have a bacteria stock, too... Anthrax, Turberculosis...MRSA..." she said scrolling down the screen " Basically Level 3 and 4 pathogens. Just what the hell were they doing here?"

" If you don't know, neither do I. Can you get the information from here?"

"Sorry to disappoint you, but I am a virologist, not a hacker. The information should have a back up in the central server, but I am not skilled enough to break through thier encryption to get it. We would need a vicious hacker for that and the only one I know is somewhere in Hughesville."

"So in other words if we want that data we'll need to go down there."

"Very sharp, Kennedy."

"Well, I guess we should bring some company down there." Leon commented pulling his mobile to his ear. "Hunnigan… I need a favor."

"Thanks goodness. It's so good to hear you Leon."

"Yeah, there was something interfering with my signal, but I took care of it. Hunnigan, can you patch me up with Chris Redfield from B.S.A.A?"

" Of course. His team were supposed to head your way to help you, but they got delayed by a sudden bioterrorist attack. Just give me a moment…"

Leon waited in the line for moment. He saw Claire's questioning look and he replied with a small wave of his hand. Suddenly, there was a soft ecstatic sound and Chris's agitated grumbles resounded in his ear.

"Leon?"

"Chris, good to know that B.O.W didn't kill you."

"As if. I am glad to hear you. Is Claire with you?"

 _Straight to the point, as usual; h_ e thoiught. Leon turned to Claire and had to drown a laugh when he saw the woman roll her eyes and mutter something that sounded like "overprotective" and "old enough".

"Yeah, she's with me. She's a little beaten up, but overall she's fine and she doesn't seem to enjoy your overprotectiveness..."

"Tell her I'm her brother and I am in the right to do so." Chris grumbled "Leon, we're heading your way, but the trip will take some time. We have to cross the continent to reach you.".

Cross the continent, so they were somewhere in Europe.

"Yeah, I guess that shouldn't be a problem. I think we are in a safe place until dawn." Leon said looking around the tower. The walls had reinforced metal and the door was lockable from the inside, so it was mostly secured.

"Dawn? What is that supposed to mean?"

"Long story made short, there's a high chance of a new virus development in this place. The new B.O.W's are tough and very violent, but they movement seems to be restricted to nighttime. I'll explain with more detail when you get here. Claire believes there might be important information in this facility, but that information is located in the underground research center, which, in my experience, must be filled with more B.O.W's. I don't think Claire and I can handle ithem on our own."

"Of course you don't! Don't you even dare going downthere until we arrive, understood? If those things are as bad as you say, make sure to stay in a safe places."

"I know, don't worry. "

"We'll talk soon,then. I gotta go."

"All right. DO you want me to give Claire a hug for you?"

"Don't dare, Kennedy. Keep those charms off from my sister..."

"I'll try..."

Leon cut of the call before Chris could say something about the last statement and snorted. He had to admit it was fun to tease him. He turned to Claire and she shrugged; but he saw the small smile on her lips.

"I already locked the door, also…"She said as she began typing on the computer again and Leon noticed that one of the screens was now showing security cameras images of the house. " I activated the cctv and the security system around the main house and the corridors surrounding this tower area. If our dear nocturne friend decides to pay a visit, he'll have a nice welcoming party."

And there it was again. Claire Redfield would never cease to amaze him.

"Thought you said you weren't a hacker."

"I am not, but I might have learned a trick or two when it comes to security systems. I did save your butt back then in Willpharma research center, remember?"

"Another of many other things I owe you."

"I dragged you down to this mess. I guess you can consider most of it paid." she sighed " Considering that I will drag you all down into another one soon."

Claire's look traveled to the 3D blueprint that was glowing in the screen. He noticed how she bit her lower lip with a worried frown as she traced her finger around the different rooms.

"If it can prevent another outbreak, I'll gladly follow you to hell, Claire, and so would Chris or any of your friends."

"I know...it's just, what if the information isn't worthy?"

"If there's something I've come to learn with my years of services is that no information is ever worthless. It might not be useful at first, but sooner or later, it becomes relevant. Believe me, Claire, finding out what this place was for is necessary."

Claire let out a soft tortured sigh and returned to the computer. He could see her shoulder tensed up as she muttered something to herself.

"So...virology, huh? Sounds a little, ehm…"

"Go ahead and say it, but it isn't as boring as most people would think. I've come to understand a lot of things... about B.O.W's, and... I've always being the family's nerd." she added the last part with a playful wink "Besides, it's helped a lot with TerraSave's work."

"You're truly devoted to that organization."

"I don't think I am devote to TerraSave. I am devote to the people in need. TerraSave is….it's just a mean to reach them."

"I doubt you studied all that just to sit behind that desk."

"I used to be more into field work and of course, I still prefer that, but I've been more indoors the past few months."

"Not only signing papers, I am sure. "

"Right, maybe someday I'll tell you."

"Can't tell me now?"

"I could, but where's the fun in that?"

Leon frowned, but ended up cracking a smile. He saw her browse into a long list on the screen; most elements of the list were written in code using numbers and letters in combination with different color; he had no idea of what they were supposed to mean, but Claire seemed to understand it.

"So...what exactly are we watching?" Leon asked resting his hand on the table and leaning a little closer to see better what was shown at the screen. He could almost feel his face grazing Claire's cheek.

"Well, it seems the security system kept a small datalog of biohazards in here. It's not very detailed, but it might give us an idea of what we'll find down there. This, here, is the list of viral subjects kept in their repository. The number corresponds to strain number, followed by short name and then the color signals hazard category" she explained pointing at the screen " green is level one, blue is level two, yellow is level three and red is level four. White names must mean they're unlisted."

Leon watched at the screen noticing that most names were in red.

"There's also the mutant viruses: the T-virus, G-virus, T-Veronica, T-Abyss, C-Virus, T-Phobos, Uroboros….they pretty much have a sample of every virus developed by Umbrella. Also they seem to kept bacterial samples and parasites, too. God, this place….if any of this things were to fall into wrong hands or released by accident...I mean, B.O.W's can be killed, but this pathogens are invisible killers. Just what kind of frankenstein were they trying to create using this?"

"That's what we'll have to find out. Anything else of our interest?"

"Yeah, there is a list of B.O.W's kept in here. Most of them are small old friends: hunters, creepers, lickers…, but there are this numbers over here. They have no data information, so I can only speculate and say those are the poor unfortunate souls that were used as guinea pigs for their test with whatever thing they were trying to create."

"That informations sure is useful. "

"It is. Leon, can I borrow you phone?"

Leon was perplexed by the sudden request, but he pulled out the device and gave it to her. The redhead connected it to the computer and began typing; a few minutes later, she returned the device and pulled away from the machine.

"I put the map into it and also the datalog. We should send it to Chris, too. That should come in handy."

 _Like I said...smart._ He thought taking the comm and resending the data to Chris.

"Not bad. Ever considered entering the secret service? I could use a partner like you, Ms. Redfield." he said putting the device back into his pocket.

"I am not agent material, Mr. Kennedy. " Claire replied with a smile.

"I wouldn't be so sure. I think you would be a great partner and I'm a picky one."

"Then I should be honored, Leon."

Leon chuckled he pulled out another chair and sat by her side. The place was warmer than the one they had stayed at last night, but it was still a little chilly, so when Claire had intended to return his jacket, he had politely rejected it.

"Don't blame me if you catch a cold." she had laughed.

" I wouldn't have to. I am sure you would show up in my apartment to nurse me back to health if that was the case."

"I wouldn't steal that opportunity to your sweetheart, Leon. Besides, I am too busy to do that."

"I am sure you'd make the time for me. We are good friends after all."

"Good friends that haven't seen each other in centuries..." she chuckled.

"We are here now, so I doubt that's a problem."

"We barely know each other outside from saving the world and surviving an apocalypse?"

"That can be fixed, Claire. It's a matter of talking."

" With biscuits and tea...preferably." Claire laughed.

"Can't say that wouldn't be welcomed, but I accept any other alternatives as well." he smiled in the same playful manner.

"I am surprised that you're still single. You're such a flirt…" she chuckled punching his arm affectionately "You were already a flirt back then, but I guess the years made you worse."

"So I was a flirt?"

"You ARE a flirt." she laughed "But...I kind of like that from you anyway."

"From me, huh?" he repeated thoughtful, and for a moment he thought he'd seen a dim shade of blush cross the woman's face, but when he watched again, she was as a pale as she usually was.

"Ah, don't mind me. I'm saying random stuff. I tend to do that when my mind isn't busy with something. Guess I'll flip over this files again."

Claire pulled out the folders she'd picked earlier and began rumbling through its contents. Leon wasn't much into that sort of things, but he pulled himself closer to take a were nasty looking pictures from ill people. Some of them were probably very old, judging by the yellowish color on the material, but some others were particularly recent. One of the pictures caught his attention, a grotesque creature with its torso all covered with bulbous pores

"I know that one…" he said pointing at it " I fought a couple of them in Tall Oaks and Lanshiang."

" _Lepotitsa_ " Claire read "I superspreader huh? Nasty thing, it must have given you lots of trouble."

"You have no idea."

"Let's see. Complete mutation of the C-virus, intended to disperse an airborne form of the virus around its immediate area. It can transform surrounding subjects into zombies spontaneously. Well it does sound like an inconvenience. Huh...project supervisor, C. Radames. Dr. Radames, huh? So she was into this."

"Friend of yours?"

"As if. She was genetics prodigy.I heard about her from my contacts in the university, unfortunately she went missing in 2009. I guess this might explain what happened. C-virus, huh..." Claire passed the page and her expression darkened " I know this one. They were in Sushestvovanie, so they were called Revenants…"

Leon watched the woman's bitter look. He could understand it, watching these creatures also brought him unpleasant memories. He put his hand on her shoulder and gave her a friendly squeeze to which she replied with a soft pat on it.

She closed the folder with a sighed and put it rubbed her temples and he could see that her head was probably bothering her again. He was not a medic, but he didn't think concussions were meant to last that long.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, my head it's bothering me again, but it isn't that bad. I am just glad that we don't need to run away today."

Leon was glad, too. He was used to the continuous hunt and be hunted with B.O.W's, but it didn't mean he wouldn't get tired, especially when they were new types. He moved close to Claire and pulled her closer, allowing her head to rest on his shoulder. An innocent gesture. Surprisingly, she didn't pull away and, in fact, she seemed to welcome it warmly.

"How many women have had the chance to use your shoulder as pillow?" she muttered softly.

"I lost count…" he snorted "I'm just kidding. You're probably the first and the only one I'd lend my shoulder to."

"I am pretty sure that's a lie, but it is still kind of sweet."

"Why would it be a lie?"

"Because you are a gentleman. I am sure you would lend it to any lady in distress."

"Well, maybe only those whom I like." he admitted, but contrary to popular belief, he wasn't much of a lady's man and there were only a few women he actually cared for deeply. Claire, in fact, was one of them. Despite their little interaction after the incidents in Raccoon and Harvardville, Claire was an important part of himself that would always stay by his side: the lovely redhead who stormed to him in a city filled by zombies. The rest of the list was a short one, and naturally it included Ada. The asian woman might be hard to read, but she had helped him in many ocassions and he considered her some sort of ally; then there was Hunnigan, who had become his partner at distance and of course there was Sherry. He had had contact with other women in his years of service, but they didn't leave a mark on him, like these ladies did.

"So….that means you like me." Claire snorted.

"I do." he replied sincerely.

He liked her, yes, but now that he had said it, he wondered what sort of "like" he meant. He like her in the way that he enjoyed her company; he liked her in the way that he wanted to keep her safe, but not in the way of family; he like her for who she was, it wasn't a physical atraction, like it happened with Ada, but something more...psychic? Claire was pretty, but even if she hadn't been, he still would have felt attracted to her, so no, it wasn't physical. The more he happened to learn, the more he found her attracting.

"Well, to tell the truth I didn't expect such a bold answer." Claire admited and this time he was sure her cheeks have grown pink.

"I didn't expect it either…. It just came out."

"Well, I suppose I should have known. We are friends after all, of course you'll say that."

Was it really friendship behind his answer? He was beginning to doubt himself. He would lie if he said he had never had some sort of feelings for the younger Redfield. After all the mess they had gone through, he had actually developed a small infatuation with her: the young girl with an auburn ponytail that fought bravely despite her fear. When the two of them had chosen to take separate paths, he had pushed those thoughts away, but maybe they had never left.

"Maybe...maybe not." he said thoughtful..

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means I like you."

"You already said that.."

"Yes…" Leon replied absently "Claire, have you ever wondered why we didn't end up together?"

"We had different ideas...you wanted to fight and I had had enough fighting. We chose different roads, you said it yourself, and those roads took us into different places."

"That…"

 _That's not what I meant._ He thought, but now, the question kind of made him embarrassed. Had he actually wondered why they had never taken their relationship into something more serious? Claire and him had always gotten along well. They had automatically clicked for the very first moment they had met in Raccoon which had actually helped to keep them alive. Of course, at the time, he had been young and he had caught interest on Ada to a point that he knew Claire felt annoyed.

"That might be it."

"To be honest, you probably see Chris more than I do." she giggled.

"Not as much as you think, but we often bump with each other when our missions happen to overlap. The last few toooomes weren't that nice..."  
"I guess that's pretty much the only way you can get a hold of him. Learned the hard way. No use chasing after him, just wait patiently until the paths cross. Applies to you, too."

"To me? I am not as hard to find as Chris."

"No, but you're not easy to grab either."

"Then what about you?"

"Me? If any of you call me, I can promise you, I'll be there. Whether it is 3 am or in other continent, but if its latter I might take awhile to get there. Agg..."

Claire pinched the bridge of her nose and let out an annoyed groan.

"I hope Chris brings painkillers. I'd rather be painless when we get down there. "

"Maybe you should let us handle this."

"No way, I need to see it myself. It's just the stupid headache, it won't kill me."

"Then...sleep a little. Maybe the pain will be gone when you wake up."

He felt her nod and a few minutes later he caught on her steady breathing as she had slipped into sleep. Leon sighed, there was nothing more he could do but watch over his companion until the sun or the rescue team arrived.


	16. Chapter 16

ANother chapie. Enjouy!

Disclaimer: I own nothing

* * *

Chris

The sense of relief he felt when Leon confirmed Claire's well being couldn't be explained with words, but it was soon shadowed by the news of a new type of B.O.W's.

"Long story made short, there's a high chance of a new virus development in this place. The new B.O.W's are tough and very violent, but they movement seems to be restricted to nighttime. I'll explain with more detail when you get here. Claire believes there might be important information in this facility, but that information is located in the underground research center, which, in my experience, must be filled with more B.O.W's. I don't think Claire and I can handle ithem on our own."

"Of course you don't! Don't you even dare going downthere until we arrive, understood? If those things are as bad as you say, make sure to stay in a safe places."

"I know, don't worry. "

"We'll talk soon,then. I gotta go."

"All right. DO you want me to give Claire a hug for you?"

"Don't you dare, Kennedy. Keep those charms off from my sister..."

"I'll try..."

"You..."He couldn't finish since Leon had cut off the call.

 _Lie a hand on her, Kennedy and I'll make you suffer._

Chris put away the radio with annoyance and turned to the rest of his team. He saw Jill's relieved expression as she exchanged some words with some soldiers from the team before getting to the cockpit.

"Told you that girl was tough cookie." Barry said patting his back "So it seems our mission turned from rescue to something else."

" If there's a B.O.W involved, then we need to do it. I expected Neo-Umbrella would have died with the events in China, but it seems we were wrong. Those bastards..."

"Tch, those leeches are hard to kill."

A soft beeping sound made Chris pull out his PDA and he let out a soft chuckle.

"What's so funny?"

"Seems like Claire and Leon decided to send us a little present." he replied showing him the blueprints and information he had just received.

"Well, now. Look at that." Barry laughed "Very kind of them."

"Judging by the looks, we've got a bunch of nasties awaiting us."

"Heh, when has it been different? We just need to blow them off as we always do."

"Now that's a positive way to see it." Jill smiled walking back to them "I just contacted HQ and we've been given green light to take on that laboratory. Our new objective: Recovering the bioweapon data."

"Count on Jill to be efficient "Barry commented shaking his head.

"Someones has to keep things in order. There's something I am concerned about though, those new B.O.W's that Leon mentioned. They only come out at night?"

"Well, that's what they said, but who knows. It might not be the case. That's another thing will need to look into. How much more before we get there?"

"Doug says that we need another three hours."

"Means we'll get there just for breakfast…" Barry said checking his watch "Hope those kids are getting a good night of rest 'cause this is gonna be one hell of a mission."

"Jill, did you find any clues of why would they target, Claire?"

"Sadly, no. TerraSave was really helpful, though. I guess they want Claire back as much as we do."

"Hell, if they do. For what Moira tells me, Claire is pretty much TerraSave's goddess by now. They must be panicking now that she's not around. Hey that could be a reason to to kidnap her."

"Yeah, but why would the terrorist group want to sabotage TerraSave?" Jil replied crossing her arms "They are only rescuers so...it wouldn't make sense."

"Unless…" Chris whispered "Claire told me sometime ago, that TerraSave had been helping B.S.A.A with the viral studies. That was primary the reason for which she decided to take on virology."

"Do you think TerraSave could have found something important about the viruses?" Jill asked. "I wasn't told anything about this when I asked."

"Of course, not. It was kept secret. I only knew because Claire told me the reason she wanted to study virology, but even then she didn't tell me much. Said it was classified and I respected that. God knows how many things I've kept from her."

"Someone in B.S.A.A should know about it." Barry suggested.

"Right, we can ask that later, when Claire is back with us. Damn, wished this plane would fly faster."

"Patience is a virtue, Chris."

"Try being patient when your little sister is sleeping somewhere surrounded by those fucking mutants."

"But at least she's not alone this time. She's got someone watching her back and you can be sure he's not someone who would just betray her." Barry reasoned.

"Yeah right. A playboy with charms..."

"Hah, he may be a pretty boy, but he's got his guts. "

Chris did not reply. He knew Leon cared about Claire, but he couldn't help but doubt the man's loyalty sometimes. The agent had a soft spot for a certain asian spy and what was stopping him from going after her and leaving Claire behind? And because he knew his sister, was that Claire wouldn't try to stop him at all. She'd probably encourage him to go after her which was even worse.

"Changing to a lighter topic… It's nice to see her red locks are back in place." Barry said casually and Chris knew that the man was trying to ease the mood " Can't say I wasn't surprised when she showed up to save my ass two years ago with her hair chopped off. She didn't look bad, though."

"I heard about that…" Jill said with smile "Those rookies from B.S.A.A were all over it, but I didn't get the chance to see her..."

"Totally badass, I tell you; but I like Claire with her pony tail. She's more our Claire, right Chris?" the older man snorted elbowing the younger one.

"She won't stop being _my_ Claire if she cuts her hair, Barry."

"Nah, I know that, but you must admit you like her with that ponytail. More like the little Claire you love, right?"

Chris wouldn't admit it outloud, but Barry was right. There was some sort of symbolism in his sister's hairstyle. As long as she kept her casual ponytail, it felt as if things had never changed and his sister was still that sweet little woman always following around and calling him to make sure he'd had a decent dinner. When Claire cut off her hair, Chris knew something had changed. She was a Redfield and like him, and other before them, Claire had her ways to cope with pain.

In his case it had been the drink, not that he was that proud of it and he had needed a hard shake off to snap out of it. In Claire's case, she had cut off her hair as a symbol of her abandoning her old self. Not many would have noticed, Claire was good at keeping things from others, but he was her brother, for god sake, he could see through her like an open book, and he had seen what the experience from two years ago had done to her.

She still smiled. She was sweet and caring like she always was, but the confident and trusting glow in her eyes was lost.

 _What has all this crap done to us?_ He thought bitterly. He would have done anything in the world to spare his sister from the horrible calamities that bioterrorism brought to the world.

"I used to have short hair too…" Jill commented.

"Yeah, I remember those times. Wow, feels like centuries ago, when S.T.A.R.S were alive and kicking…" Barry sighed "and when all this crap began."

"No use thinking about that now." Chris said absently "Let's focus on our current situation, shall we?"

"As you say captain." Barry laughed.

Chris checked his weapons and gear. There was still a long way ahead and he needed to keep himself preoccupied.


	17. Chapter 17

_D_ isclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

 _Claire_

When she woke up, the room was barely lit by the light of the computer screens. Claire pushed herself up carefully and found Leon sleeping by her side. His hair perfectly combed and his arms crossed over his chest. She didn't want to wake him, so she remained there silently; letting herself get lost in her own thoughts. Her headache had gotten a little better, but she really wanted those painkillers, just in case.

Claire hated when she woke up in the middle of the night since she could never go back to sleep again. That left her lying in the darkness thinking of a lot of useless things. That's why she had started staying on the office at night. That way, whenever she woke up in the middle of a night, something that happened often, she would drag herself into the lab and work on her research. She would often find Saya there and the woman would make her hot chocolate. Either she was working or just casually chatting with Saya, Claire prefered that than the solitude of her apartment.

 _Well, I can't complain. I do have company, it's just that he's deep asleep._ She thought.

Thinking about Leon brought her memories of their earlier chat and she was mad at herself for blushing when the agent had casually commented that he liked her. She already knew he liked her in a friendly way, so what was she doing getting flushed about it? Unfortunately, she couldn't control her physiological responses. She'd always liked Leon, ever since Raccoon city, but back then she had seen him go all over Ada, and she knew he still was all over her. They had had their moments after leaving the city and she had thought about him often in the later years, but he had somehow become a platonic love and she was okay with that.

 _Oh, Claire. You're just cursed. THe decent men that you come to love and who actually care about you are the ones you can never have._ She laughed at the irony.

"May gods kill me. What am I even thinking?" she whispered to herself as she looked at the sleeping man.

Ada was lucky; the woman should just swallow her pride and accept Leon once for all. That would make things easier...for her. He would be happy and she'd feel happy for him as well. That was the right thing to do...right?

" _Yeah, because at the end, you'll be alone."_ that little voice that had come to speak in her head so often whispered " _He will go to his beloved and even your brother will leave you for his own sweetheart. What will be left for you? An empty apartment filled with nightmares that lurk in the shadows and solitude."_

Claire shook her head. If that voice was her conscience, she seemed to have a pretty rotten one, but maybe that inner voice wasn't wrong after all. Leon and Chris were bound to make their lives someday. They wouldn't be agents forever and when that happened, she would probably be in the way, but who was she to stop them from being happy? If Chris wanted to marry, she'd definitely approve it. The same with Leon, even if it was that infamous spy.

" _But you know you don't like it. You don't want him to go to her."_

" _U_ gh, shut up" she mumbled rubbing her temple.

" _He likes her; much more than he'd ever come to like you, even though you loved him that much."_

Claire shook her head trying to push away that annoying little voice.

" _Pathetic, aren't you? Loving someone you shouldn't. It's your curse, maybe Leon knows it too. All those who have come to you have died, one by one...like Steve, like Piers...like Neil,"_

Why did it have to mention Neil?

" _Loving you would drag him to death. He'll die….painfully, just like they did."_

Claire rubbed her head, maybe stronger that she had intended, but the pain made it hard to hear the voice, and that was actually a good thing; but suddenly, she felt a couple of warm hands grabbing hers and forcing her to stop.

" Hey, stop that…"Leon whispered softly "You'll hurt yourself."

" Leon? I am sorry, did I wake you?"

"Don't worry about that. What happened? "

"I…"

 _I had an unpleasant conversation about you with my subconscious. Yeah, tell him that so that he can take you for crazy._

"I had a nightmare... I have them pretty often. Sorry, I didn't warn you about that."

"Want to talk about it?"

"I'll rather not."

She stared at her hands. Leon was still holding them and she cursed herself for wanting to stay like that for bit longer.

 _Get a hold of yourself, Claire. You are not a teenage girl; you're a grown up woman in a pretty bad situation, you can't be wasting your thoughts and energy in these stupid things._

Unfortunately, Leon wasn't helping. The man was rubbing her hands with his thumbs, a gesture that probably wanted to sooth her. He was worried and she felt a pinch of guilt; she could at least try to tell him a part of what was making her uneasy.

"Neil…" she muttered.

"What?"

"Neil Fisher. My nightmare…" she lied. She felt bad about lying, but well, it wasn't entirely a lie. Part of her reaction was related to him, after all.

She felt his gaze staring at her, but he didn't reply as he waited for her to continue.

"I guess, you might call it a trauma. He was a nice man and for the first time in years I thought I had found someone. It was stupid from me, I left my guard down. "

"You loved him?"

Love? She had liked him, yeah, but it couldn't be called love. They had things in common and she had found his company pleasant, but their relationship never went beyond that. She somehow grew attached to him and then she had thought that, maybe, something could happen there. How wrong she'd been.

"I don't think I would call it love. There was affection, but not real love. Call me old fashioned, but I am the kind to think there's not real love than the first. Neil was...someone special and what he did...god, it just tore me apart in so many ways."

She wa being honest. Neil's betrayal hurt more than her heart, he broke her trust, the respect she felt for him and she felt cheated. Maybe. to some, it would sound exaggerated, but to her, his betrayal had touched her deeply.

"It just….keeps tormenting me. I can't see anyone without thinking if that person would do same. I just…., I recommended him for the job, he had experience so….I..thought that he would do a good job, but….if I think about it….may be if I hadn't, all that crap that happened would have been avoided and, they...Pedro, Gabe, Edward and Gina; they would all still be alive…"

"What happened was not your fault."

"It somehow was. I mean, he had access to our information because I rejected the spot and recommended him instead. If I….I hadn't been so biased about him.."

"You couldn't have known. Claire, you made a mistake, but it wasn't your fault. Some people are just good at hiding who they really are. There was no way you could have foreseen what he planned."

"I guess… you might be right.I am sorry, I can be silly at times."

"Hey, it's okay. Don't worry about it"

"Thanks, Leon."she said with a friendly punch on his arm "What times is it? Chris is certainly late or it's just me?"

"He is late. It's 4 am. It'd be dawn soon."

"Ah...I think I've never been so grateful about sunlight."

"Not a morning person?"

"I am more a night owl, but mornings are okay, though. Do you think they'll bring us breakfast?"  
"Who knows" he snorted "But I'm sure they bring us some nice guns."

"They better do." she laughed "I shouldn't complain, this saved my life enough times…"

The woman looked at the old rifle she'd picked on the village. The thing was old, but it had worked well until now, Still, she'd rather have something a little more powerful if she was to enter the underground facilities.

"But the girl is old, I don't know if her firepower will be enough for whatever is inside that laboratory."

"You tell me. I miss _my_ guns."

"Don't worry I can persuade Chris about sharing his toys."

"No doubt about that. He'd never refuse that look."

Claire winked at him with a smile. She knew Chris had a soft spot for her and with the years she'd learned to use that to her advantage.

"What about you? Can you refuse it?" she laughed.

Leon meditated his answer, his lips curled in mischievous smile.

"Guess that would depend."

Claire rolled her eyes ignoring the man's soft laughter. She pushed herself up and walked to the computer once more. With the tiredness of the other day, she had totally skipped the night surveillance. She had trusted that the facility security system would keep them safe.

"Signs from our little friend?" Leon said approaching her after checking his gear. It seemed to be a habit of him; perhaps acquired with the years, since she'd not seen him do that before.

" Let me see….well, look at that. Our ugly friend is finishing its diner-breakfast. Ugh, not something I fancy watching first hour in the morning."

The image in the screen wasn't nice, and she knew that if that screen had not been a security camera, the screen would be a bloody mess. The B.O.W in the scene was the same that had attacked them in the cave or at least, the same type. She felt a chills as she stared at the same spider-like body crawl through that corridor; the claws on its front limbs impaling the bodies of some unfortunate Carriers.

"This thing intrigues me. I hope we can gather more information about it."

"I just want to know what it is and how I kill it. That's enough for me."

The redhead couldn't help but laugh about the boldness in his statement. Maybe it was that dead pan tone he had used, but she had found his words truly amusing.

"Do you think that's the one who attacked us?"

"Hard to tell. For all we know, the place could be crawling of those." Leon replied waving his head "That's why I said what is it and how do I kill it."

" I got you, Leon. If I figure that out, you'll be the first to know; but it's the first time I see B.O.W's that "eat" B.O.W's. I mean, I know there some specimens that are extremely hostile to their own kind, but….to feed from them?"

"These people are sick, so I wouldn't be surprised if they did it in purpose."

Claire was thinking of any reason why Neo-Umbrella would want to create a mutant who fed up from other mutants when a soft beeping interrupted her line of thought. She realized it was Leon's communicator when the man pulled it out from his pocket and answered.

"Hunnigan, good to hear you again."

"Can say the same thing, Leon. I was contacted by the B.S.A.A alpha team just a while ago. They'll be arriving to your location in some minutes."

"Sure, they can take all the time they want. It's not like we'll be going anywhere,"

"Very funny Leon. I think I can fill you up with all the recent events, and perhaps you could do the same."

"Sounds fair. What do you have to tell, Hunnigan?"

"Is Ms. Redfield with you? I believe this might be of her interest, as well."

"She's right here."

"Good, then I'll begin. 72h ago, exactly two hours after your disappearance, a bioterrorist attack was launched over Hughesville."

"What?"

Claire was horrified. There had been an attack in her city? Hughesville wasn't even a big city, why would they target them?

"Luckily, I was informed by a TerraSave contact that there had been small casualties and that most of the people of the city had been successfully evacuated in the 3 hours following first attack thanks to the emergency procedure that Ms. Redfield, there, had implemented some months ago."

"The Aganisia Procedure…" she whispered " God, so it worked as it was supposed to."

"Yes, Ms. Redfield and for what I heard, the results were satisfactory."

"If Aganisia was activated, it means Anathallis was as well. Did B.S.A.A respond to the emergency call?"

"I was going to that. Indeed, the B.S.A.A agents were deployed even before the first report of the bio attack was done to the authorities."

"Oh, god. So it worked." she sighed in relief "We've not used the procedure in real situations, so I was worried it might not work."

Leon looked her quizzically, but she motioned at him articulating a silent: "Explain it later."

"It worked well, Ms. Redfield. You should be proud, in fact, the government wants to contact you once you have returned to US and talk about the possibility of implementing it in other cities, but we can discuss that later."

"So, what about the attack?" Leon asked.

"Yes, of course. The B.O.W's used in the attack are from the C-virus. B.S.A.A managed to suppress most of the small scale weapons without major losses, however the bigger ones represented a major challenge."

"So, they use C-virus Bioweapons? Damn, so Neo-Umbrella is still mass producing them."

"Mostly, yes. The attack was controlled, however a second attack was launched late in the evening. This time, the attack forces included a new kind of B.O.W."

"A new...kind?"

"An unidentified specimen. It was suppressed by B.S.A.A elite Alpha Team."

"Chris…" Claire and Leon muttered.

"Yes, Mr. Redfield and his companions dispatched the entity after finding B.S.A.A Delta Team completely decimated."

"What did the B.O.W looked like?" Leon asked and Claire realized that the man was thinking the same as her. Could that new B.O.W be like the ones they had found in this place?

"I ...I don't have the details about that, I am sorry. I haven't receive the report, yet."

"That's fine, Hunnigan. Is the attack still on?"

"Yes, however it seems that B.S.A.A. is handling it well. "

"Well, that's great. "

"That's all I have to report at the time being. It's your turn, Leon."

"Not much I can tell. We are in an isolated area and judging by the vegetation, we are in high lands. The locals have been all infected with Plagas, I have no idea which strain, though. There are new B.O.W's , but I can't tell if they'll match with the one seen in Hughesville. They're extremely violent and hostile with anything that moves including other infection carriers, so we tried to avoid confrontation; however, one of them found us last night. We barely made it alive…"

"Leon, that's terrible. Is any of you hurt?"

"We've been better, but it isn't anything serious: scratches and some bruises. We noticed a behaviour pattern in this B.O.W's. Their hostile behaviour seems to be restricted to nighttime and they seem to feed on other infection carriers. We reached a facility where we believe their development was done. I manage to inactivate the system that was interfering with communication and so we'll look for information once Chris's team arrives."

"Understood. I shall inform the higher ups about this. Leon, be careful. I know it isn't an official mission but…"

"Don't worry, Hunnigan. I consider it official."

"Okay, let me know if I can help with anything."

"Sure."

Claire watched him put down the comm and look at her with eyebrow raised.

"Care to explain it now?"

" Aganisia is the emergency evacuation protocol I designed for TerraSave, once it is set in motion, it automatically starts Anathallis procedure which is a direct notice and deployment of B.S.A.A anti-terrorist troops.

"I get it, any particular reason about the names, though?"

"I… I like orchids." she shrugged. To tell the truth, there was no deep reason behind the names, at that time, she had seen the flowers and she'd liked them.

"Orchids?"

"Well, what's wrong with that? Orchids are pretty."

Leon couldn't stop himself from laughing and Claire just smiled shyly.


	18. Chapter 18

Life has been hectic with work so I dodn't get to update as often, Anyway, this is a new chapter. Part I will soon be done. Since it is most comfortable this way, I am sticking the all parts in one single publish.

Anyway Enjoy! And please, I'd like a little more feed back. I know people are reading it, but not having that much feed back makes me wonder if the views are readers at all.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my ideas.

* * *

 _Leon_

Orchids. Claire could come out with really unexpected things sometimes. She didn't look like the sort of girl that liked flowers, but he found that little fact amusingly adorable. If he could make out something positive about being stranded in there, was that he was getting to know Claire better.

 _Guess now I know what flowers I should buy her...wait, why would I buy her flowers?_

"I think it should be safe to go out now. The sun must be out now. Let's wait for Chris and the others outside."

"Yeah, okay. Sounds fine to me."

The pair picked up their weapons and headed out of the tower. There found no foes waiting to attack them once they had left the safety of the tower and Leon guessed that they should thank their little"friend" for it. He was about to comment about it when the sound of an aircraft made them look up right on time to see Chris and company making their triumphant entrance.

"Well, look at that. We've got a welcoming party!" Barry laughed when his feet touched the ground "What? No music and fireworks?"

"Sorry to disappoint you, Barry. Guess we must have forgotten to get them while we were trying to stay alive." Claire replied with a playful smile.

"Ah, you can make up for that later, little Red." he replied with a smile.

"Claire!"

"Chris!"

Leon stepped aside to let the siblings have their moment. It was almost funny to see how Chris, lifted his sister from the ground to pull her into a choking embrace. The man looked so out of character, but Leon knew that the Redfields had a close relationship and it was heartwarming to see them interact. It almost erased the terrible weight that had long befallen this siblings

"God...I was so worried." Chris sighed in relief when he finally put her down.

"I know you were. I am fine….but what the hell happened to your arm? Don't tell me you let one of those B.O.W's get you. How disappointing, my dear brother."

"Never mind. I'll earn your pride later today." Chris snorted "And in my defense, it got it worse. But for real, are you sure you are okay?"

The older Redfield pushed his sister back to take a look on her. Leon knew the man wouldn't find anything more than scratches and bruises adorning her pale skin. Leon knew that, because he, too, had checked her for any evident injury; the visible wounds weren't what he was concerned about. He still wasn't sure about the implications from the concussion.

"I am okay. I just hit my head a little...I think. If you got some painkillers in you first aid kit, I'd gladly make use of them."

Chris looked like he wanted to say something, but he seemed to rethink it and instead he pulled out a small bottle from one of his vest pockets and gave it to her.

"Here, but you'll need to eat something first. Those are a little strong"

"And I since you made the suggestion I guess you brought me something to eat." Claire winked at him as she picked the bottle.

"Well, I don't imagine your hosts left you food lying around."

"Well, we did find a storage room with some canned food, right Leon?"

"I must admit we've had a lot of luck this time. I guess Claire is a good luck charm." Leon smiled.

"Thanks for keeping her safe, Leon."

"Hey, I can take care of myself." Claire said punching his healthy arm.

"I should be thanking _her_ , for keeping me alive." Leon smiled "there's no need of gratitude. We are all friends, and we help each other as much as we can."

"Yeah, yeah...that's nice. So how about we get that breakfast and finish this mission asap?" Barry complained.

The so called breakfast consisted on some protein bars. The taste wasn't bad, but it definitely didn't compare with a real breakfast,but with his years of service, Leon had learned to not be so picky about some things. They bars were designed to fill the physiological need of energy and they were easy to carry. Leon had grown used to eat them, but he had smirked at Claire when the woman made a disgusted face after the first bite.

As they ate the soldier styled breakfast, Chris and Jill had began the strategy meeting. Chris had brought eight men from B.S.A.A as backup, without counting the chopper's pilot. Jill, Barry and him were from the Elite Alpha and the remaining five belonged to Alpha team.

"So...studying the blueprint that you send us, there are three possible entrances to the underground facility. From the basement here; the library here or the common room in here." Jill said pinpointing the spots.

"The information about the essays should be in Research Center, we should try the common room's entrance." Claire suggested "It's the most direct way to it and faster. The less time we spend there the less likely they'll noctice us"

"That if the thing isn't blocked. What worries me now, however, is the condition down there. We don't know what monsters they kept or how dangerous they might be." Jill said staring at the blueprints." We can guess we'll find at least one of the B.O.W's on the lists that Claire and Leon found, but there might be new specimens that were not listed."

"We'll stick together all the time. I don't want anyone wandering off on his own, understood?" Chris said to his men " And that goes for you, too, Claire."

"I know, I know. I won't do anything reckless. I promise."

"Right, keep an eye on her, Leon."

"Get ready everyone, we leave in 5. You two need proper gear. Come here.."

Leon glanced at Claire with a raised brow and the redhead winked at him. After receiving a generous gift of gear and weapons, Leon finally felt more comfortable.

"That's right...Chris, we heard that you encountered a new type of B.O.W back in Hughesville."

"You don't miss a thing huh? Guess Leon's friend filled you up already. I can't tell you much, but the creature was vicious and highly hostile. I took quite a lot of ammo and a incendiary rounds to give it a scratch, but Barry's grenade put an end to it. B.S.A.A. clean up team probably took samples for study so you could ask about it later."

"Yeah, I was just wondering if there was a chance that it was the same strain that we encountered here."

"To tell that truth, I wouldn't be surprised." Chris sighed shaking his head "Ok, people. We are heading down. From here on we are in high risk terrain so keep your ears and eyes open. One mistake can cost your life or the team's. I'll be at point along with Jill and Barry; Clemence and Riley, you two be at the sides while Miller, Hunter and Bailey will be at rear. Leon and Claire, you two are stuck in the middle.

"Seriously, Chris?" Claire asked crossing her arms "You can't really think that Leon and I can handle those things, do you?"

"I don't doubt you can, but it's strategical position. You two have been in harsh conditions the past three days, I am sure your bodies won't be as sharp. Take as short period of resting."

"As if."

Leon chuckled, he put his hand on Claire's shoulder and smiled with a nod. He could understand Chris's reasoning: putting them in the middle would take a little of the weight from them. It didn't mean they could slack off, but at least they could catch a breath until the situation called for action. Claire let out a sigh and patted his hand.

"Okay, guess I'll let it pass."

The team headed to the common room and to both Leon's and Claire's disgust, they found the fresh blood stains on the wooden floor. The man remembered the footage of the security camera they had seen and recalled that this had been the room where they had seen that B.O.W feasting on its preys.

"Well, someone didn't have much luck." Barry growled.  
"Yeah, a bunch of Plaga infected locals." Leon replied "We saw it through the surveillance camera a little before dawn. It was one of the new B.O.W's."

"So they really eat other infected?" Jill said perplexed as she walked to the fireplace and tainted around the bricks until she found the control panel. The woman began working to open the secured door.

"It seems like it is like that."

"That's crazy. I've seen those thing killing each other, but cannibalism is a new thing." Barry said staring at the blood stain with disgust.

"They have never been very _sane_ to begin with. Got it." Jill said pushing back the control panel and stepping back raising her gun.

The fireplace let out a screech as it pulled back revealing a large metal door. The red light on the command box turned green and the heavy doors began to slide open. There team had their weapons raised in case a monster jumped out of it, but the only thing beyond the door was a small square space: an elevator.

"Clear, let's move." Chris signaled and they entered the elevator. The door automatically closed once the last man had stepped inside and soon, it was moving down smoothly.

Leon couldn't help but feel a bit of _deja vu_. How many elevators heading to monster filled facilities had he ride before? He had already lost the count. When it came to an abrupt stop, everyone raised their weapons as the watched the doors slowly slide open.

Chris stepped out with Barry, both men looked around and then motioned them to move out. The place was clear, no mutants, no zombies and no living things either. To Leon, however, the stench of death was definitely in the air.

"At least there's light" Claire muttered to him "Last time I was in place like this, I could barely see my steps."

"The energy is still up. I guess they left in a rush." Jill commented.

"That if they actually left…"Chris commented.

Most of them probably hadn't. Their theory was proved right as they turned to the second corridor: there was blood splattered in the walls, more papers were scattered on the floor and he saw Claire bowing to pick one.

"What's that?"

"Notes about a test subject, I suppose." She replied picking another one " _Physiological changes took place two days after the first inoculation. There was no evidence of mental disfunction yet and mutation seems to be suppressed. Administration through multiple dosages showed up effective to inhibit immediate mutation. Anomalies in blood seems to be a common treat of the new strain."_ she read.

"So those fuckers actually made a new strain." Barry growled.

"Does it say anything about the virus?"

" No details, I'm afraid. The report is incomplete. Some of the pages are gone, so…"

"No use going to look for them if we can find the research data in the from the main computer." Chris said "Let's get moving. We now know that we have hostiles down here. Stay sharp."

Leon caught Claire's worried look as she looked at her brother. They headed to the Research room which was located a couple of corridors beyond; as they moved, Leon was uncomfortable about the lack of monsters and the lack of corpses. They had come across a lot of blood stains that were evidence of an obvious slaughter, but so far they had not encountered the victims nor the attackers. Leon had a glimpse of Chris and he knew that the older Redfield was having the same train of thought.

"This is the place." Jill said checking the map "Biomedical and Biohazard Department. What a name, huh?"

"It has VIRUS written all over it." Barry mocked.

They entered the room with their weapons raised, but just like the rest of the facility, the place was empty. There weren't bloodstains, so at least they knew that the place hadn't been the setting of slaughter unlike other rooms they had passed. For a investigation department, Leon the room was rather simple: white walls, a set of computers and two shelves- one filled with with unknown contents and another one filled by files. There wa a glass window that opened to what looked like a laboratory. The place was messed up, but there was no blood in there, either. One of Chris's men, Clement if he wasn't mistaken, rushed to the computer and began hacking into the system and copying all the information into memory drive, the rest stood guard in case anything showed up.

The silence was unsettling, the only sound that filled the room was the typing. It felt unnatural and it gave Leon the sensation that something was watching him, lurking in the shadows and waiting for its chance to strike. He saw Claire standing in front of the shelves; she was flipping the pages of one of the folders.

"Found something interesting?"

"You could say so. It seems like they were trying to make a new virus based on multiple pathogens. These are viral genomes, but these are bacterial genes..."

"Why doesn't it sound new to me?"

"Yeah, I guess you must be sick of hearing it, right?"

Leon pulled out one of the folders and flipped it open. What he found inside wasn't nice. The first page had a picture of a woman of blonde curly hair and green eyes. Her skin was sickly pale and her look lacked life; right next to the picture, there was the word FAILED.

 _Name: Marishka Sekinova, Subject CD:05X345_

 _Treatment: Isolation BS-0314_

 _Observations: patient showed fever in the first 3h after the inoculation followed by signs of mental degeneration that included symptoms similar to dementia. 48h after, she showed signs of mutation: epidermis began to degrade; muscular tissue was elongated and apparition of tumors in multiple parts of the body that developed in a extreme high speed. 72h later, the mutation had extended to all the body, leaving the subject unrecognizable; signs of erratic behavior and high hostility began to appear. The subject had to be put into a reinforced isolation room in order to continue the monitoring, 96h later, the subjects vitality began to fall and its body parts began to decay in a phenomena what that we've named "Rotting". Subject was found dead at 17:46pm of July, 11th._

The file ended with a set of horrible looking pictures that showed up the evolution of the woman, so the pictures went from pretty bad to horribly bad.

"Poor woman. These people really don't understand the term _Bioethics._ " Claire said sadly"They have the files coded by colors: those white folders are failed subjects and the color tags must be the virus they were testing. Check what I found."

Claire handed him a folder. He flipped it open and just like the other file, the front page had a picture attached, this time it was the photograph of a woman with black hair, but instead of FAILED, the words: TO IMPROVE, were written. He turned the page and , like before, he found a set of pictures, but his eyes were suddenly stuck in the last one.

"It's...the thing that attacked us."

"Yeah, or at least a _primitive_ version of it, but look what it says. According to this, the mutation caused them to be photosensible. That explains why they only come out at night time."

"Just like monsters from a nightmare, huh?"

"Yeah…"

The lights in from the ceiling flickered and he saw Claire lookup with a frown

"Did you...hear that?" she asked.

"Hear what…?"he replied. Leon was puzzled, he hadn't heard anything.

Claire did not reply as she stared back at ceiling.

"It's done. I've copied all the files from the system captain." Clement said breaking the silence.

"Good, time to get the hell out of here. Don't let your guard down, yet. We still don't know if there's anything ready to attack us out there."

"Yes, Captain!"

Claire pushed the folder back into the shelf and turned to Leon.

"Time for this nightmare to end…" he said and she smiled.


	19. Chapter 19

_Claire_

She was restless, but she couldn't explain the reason behind it. It was an odd sensation in her guts, called insctinct or survival paranoia, but she just kept having that uncomfortable feeling of being followed. The corridors were well lit, and that sort of soothed her fears. As long as there was light, she could breath a little easier. Maybe it was only her nerves playing trick on her, but she could swear she had heard something over her head.

The research center was well provided. It was even better than the one she worked in at Terra Save NA, so finding it in such state of chaos was a pity. The researchers must have distrusted the security of their online data since they kept records in the traditional way, too: paper. While Chris's men worked on the central computer extracting the data, she paced around the shelves peeking at random folders. She had been so focused on deciphering the coding that the researchers used that she didn't notice Leon by her side.

"Found something interesting?"

"You could say so." she replied as she picked up another folder. What she found inside made frown.

The familliar lines of letters greeted her cerulean eyes

1 atgccggcag aaaacaagaa agttagattc gaaaatacta cttcagacaa agggaaaatt 61 cctagtaaag ttattaagag ctactacgga accatggaca ttaagaaaat aaatgaagga 121 ttattggaca gcaaaatatt aagtgctttc aacacagtaa tagcattgct tggatctatc 181 gtgatcatag tgatgaatat aatgatcatc caaaattaca caagatcaac agacaatcag 241 gccgtgatca aagatgcgtt gcagggtatc caacagcaga tcaaagggct tgctgacaaa 301 atcggcacag agatagggcc caaagtatca ctgattgaca catccagtac cattactatc 361 ccagctaaca ttgggctgtt aggttcaaag atcagccagt cgactgcaag tataaatgag 421 aatgtgaatg aaaaatgcaa attcacactg cctcccttga aaatccacga atgtaacatt 481 tcttgtccta acccactccc ttttagagag tataggccac agacagaagg ggtgagcaat ...

Claire wasn't prodigy student, but she was capable enoough to recognize what she was reading and her doubts were comfirmed when she saw the notes writen under the sequences. Those were genomes and judging by the coding, viral genomes. She flipped through the folders and realized that no all of the genomes were viral, some bacterial genomes and parasytic sequences were listed.

 _Good...what kind of Frankenstein were they trying to create?_

"It seems like they were trying to make a new virus based on multiple pathogens. These are viral genomes, but these are bacterial genes..."

"Why doesn't it sound new to me?"

"Yeah, I guess you must be sick of hearing it, right?"

Claire spent much of her free time diving through this sort of things. She could even cite sequences of certain viral genes, but to Leon, an senior agent of the secret service, the class of biology would most likely be boring. She kept flipping through the folders until a small mark caught her attention. Some of the genomes were marked with two different colored codes : PJMorpheus and PJLyssa.

She was about to show it to Leon when she heard a sizzing over her head. Her eyes laid inmediately on the ceiling.

"Did you...hear that?"

"Hear what…?"Leon replied and she saw the confusion in his face.

 _Just great. Not only do I hear voices in my head. Now I hear noises, too._

She tried to focus her hearing to see if she caught on the noise again, but then one of Chris's soldiers said he was done with the data copying. A wave of relief fell over her, but as soon as it had arrived the same feeling was replaced by anxiety. They were now a step closer from leaving that place and that was good news, but for some reason, the restlessness was still there. It was like a needle that kept stinging her gut as she walked through corridor with the rest of the guys. When they turned the last corner, she saw the doors of the elevator and a sense of relief filled her. Unfortunately, the relief was shortlived.

" STAND BY. STAND BY. SYSTEM MAINFRAME VIOLATED. FACILITY REBOOT IN TWO MINUTES MAINTENANCE PERIOD. "

"What the...?" Hunter snapped.

"Shit...Maybe our hacking triggered the security system."

"Just great, well done CLement. Now what?"

"Calm down, it is just a system reboot. Probably the generator needs to restart. It's a security mode when it gets overheated. It'll cut the energy for some minutes, not big deal." Clement said.

However, there was something horrible about the idea of walking around in the darkness, and she wasn't sure why but she had a bad feel about it. Claire quickened her pace trying to match with team's but then…

SWISH

The redhead stopped in her tracks and looked back. The lights from the corridor were starting to shut down one by one like an old horror darkness was coming closer and the problem was, it didn't come alone. No, there was something else lurking inside it. She could ...sense it?

"RUN" Claire shout out of sudden making all of her companions jump, but it was too late. Two long claws emerged from the darkness impaling the body of the man called Hunter. He'd been the one assigned to watch over the rear, and by default the one closer to te shadows. Muller and Bailey began shooting trying to help their fallen comrade ,but the disgusting crunch was enough to make Claire her know the man was long gone.

The body fell to the ground in an awckward and humanly impossible position making a sickening crunch.

"Don't waste ammo!" Claire cried " That thing moves in the darkness, if we lose the light we are done. JUST RUN."

They began running as fast as they could. The wave of darkness chasing them right on their heels. She managed to catch a glimpse of the creature hunting them. Unlike the one Leon and she had seen outside, this one was smaller and by the looks of it, female. She could see the pale skin that covered the curves of the naked body. It could have been easily taken by a normal person if it hadn't been for the abnormally long fingers that ended in black sharpy nails and the twisted faceless head. That seemed to be a common treat in that new strain: none of the specimens they had encountered so far had facial features except a large mouth.

The scratched the walls with the tip of her nails making a creepy screech. She could hear her as she moved closer under the black veil of darkness. Their run was interrupted by another scream; this time Muller, had been the victim; the sound of tearing flesh and cracking bones made her feel sick.  
"What the hell is that?" Chris cursed and visibly upset of losing to men in a matter of minutes.

"Is one of the new mutants." Leon said "These bastards are tough ones, Chris..."

"Was it hiding all this time?" Jill said charging her gun.

"No, it's photosensible! The fluorescent lights must have kept them away, but with the system reboot and the energy out, it took the chance of the lights going off to attack us. We need to stay a secured light if we want to stay out of reach." Claire replied " or at least stay safe until the energy is back!"

" _You know the odds are against you…"_ the annoying voice began " _They are all going to die here and it'd be your fault."_

Claire chose to ignore it and it was then when she felt a great pain rip her right shoulder as she flew against a wall. One of the monsters claws was painfully impaling her shoulder and she could see her white blouse start to go black.

"CLAIRE!" she heard many voices shout followed by the blast of gunfire.

The pain she felt couldn't be expressed in words, but the monster had her nailed in the wall. She couldn't move.

"You son of a..." she heard Chris shouting followed by a wave of bullets.

But the creature barely reacted to the attack. The creatures "face" had gotten close to hers and she could feel the uneven breathing on her. Maybe it was the fast blood loss or the sudden head ache that pierced her skull, but her surroundings were beginning blur, she could barely make out the screams and shouts her friends and brother were doing.

SYSTEM RESTART IN THREE MINUTES.

The electronic voice echoed. Three minutes? If she could manage to stay alive for three minutes, then maybe she had chance to make it out.

BIOHAZARD DETECTED. STERILIZATION PROTOCOL INITIATED. FACILITY WILL BE PURGED IN TWO MINUTES. PLEASE EVACUATE THE BUILDING.

 _Fuck._ Claire thought; if they didn't do something, they would all die here. She caught a glimpse of Chris and the remaining team shooting at the monster, the flashes of the fire barely lighting their expressions of frustration and worry.

" _You know what you should do."_

She couldn't let them die here.

" _Are you brave enough to do it, though?"_

She heard Leon shout something.

" _This was meant to be something you faced...alone…"_

Jill screamed something to Chris but she didn't understand it.

" _Two are dead already, how many more will you kill?"_

 _One._ She thought.

"Chris!" she shouted as loud as the pain let her "Chris, get the hell out here. Forget about me."

"Don't even think it. I am not leaving you, Claire."

"You have to. This place...is gonna blow up. You...need to...get...out with that...data."

"Don't you dare say it, Claire. NO, simply no..." Chris growled stubbornly.  
"For god's sake, Chris...I can...distract it long enough for you all to leave. JUST DO THE RIGHT THING. The data is more...important….than my life and you know it. What's one life...in exchanfe of millions that...could be saved?"

Chris did not reply. Claire knew her brother was painfully aware that her words were the right; she trusted that he'd do the right thing.

 _Chris..._

 _"_ I am not leaving you! You can't expect me to just leave you here damn it!"

Claire could feel the pain in her brothers voice. She knew abandoning her was hard on him. It'd been hard for her, too, if it had been the other way around. The creature put pressure on her shoulder and she had to bite her lip to avoid screaming. Her cries of pain would onlu make it harded for Chris.

"Christopher Redfield!" the screamed with the little energy she was feeling "GET YOUR ASS OUT OF HERE ...AND IF YOU REALLY WANT TO HONOR YOUR WORD AND MAKE ME PROUD...TAKE THAT...DATA AND DESTROY THE ...BASTARDS WHO...DID THIS!"

Her words seemed to finally reach him. Chris clenched his gun so hard that it almost seemed as if he was intending to bend it. His face showed his hesitation.

FACILITY WILL BE PURGED IN ONE MINUTES. PLEASE EVACUETE THE STRUCTURE.

The light of the elevator came through the opening doors and she saw how the soldiers were fighting to pull Chris in; Jill and Barry were grabbing Leon, who like Chris did not seem adamant about the idea of sacrificing her. Claire saw them enter them small space in slow motion, she felt sad but at the same time, she knew she had made the right decision.

She could feel the creatures nails tearing apart the muscles of her shoulder. She would die in here, but not as mutant food. She heard the countdown start like a distant voice; when the counter ran to zero, Claire lost the sense of everything , as the fire and heat surounded her.

* * *

END OF PART I

* * *

So there you have it. That's a wrap for the first part of the story. I wanted structure it a little like Revelations 2 and move the story by episodes.

So take this as episode one.

Curious note for this chapter: the sequence that Claire found in the file wasn0t just random letters lol. It is actually a partial bit of the genome of a real virus; the Nipah Virus to be exact .

:)


	20. Prologue Part II

"As wave is driven by wave  
And each, pursued, pursues the wave ahead,  
So time flies on and follows, flies, and follows,  
Always, for ever and new. What was before  
Is left behind; what never was is now;  
And every passing moment is renewed."  
(― **Ovid** , **Metamorphoses** )

A voice echoed through the white painted corridors soothed by the soft sound of a music box.

A place filled by solitude; the cries of desperation, fear, and the agony of loss.

Her hand caressed the cold surface of the music box, the small ballerina in it spinning at the melody, she once knew, until it came to a stop.

She heard the keys; she heard the whispers; she heard the mutters...

When the door opened ...

Her pain began.

* * *

Music box:

www _youtube_com/ _watch?v=b3BMp7yBqws

Remember to replace the_- .


	21. Part II: Chapter 1

Here begings part II (officially)

Hope you enjoy this adventure.

* * *

November 15th, 2016.

Jill

The blond woman passed the security stand smiling at the friendly guard who had received her. After the kidnapping incident, TerraSave had become more wary about their security. She was a regular visitor and certainly, the BSAA badge helped her a lot.

It'd been eight months since the incident and Claire's death. Her loss had been a big hit, not only TerraSave, but to BSAA, too. That without counting the emotional turmoil that the news had caused. She knew, from Chris, that the his sister was always good at leaving marks on people. She hadn't had the chance to know the girl well, but the people who did knew her seemed deeply affected. Chris entered a state of depression that was even worst than the episode he'd suffered in Edonia, but in this case, he had not drown himself in alcohol. She guessed that he did it in his sister's memory, the girl had hated his drinking habits, after all. The Burton family had seemed affected as well, Barry had made a silent mourning, but his daughter had cried a lot and even half a year after, some things could still trigger her tears. Then there was Leon, he too, was a silent mourner, but Jill was good at reading people, and she could tell that, after Chris, he was the most affected one. Even the workers in TerraSave well still mourning. THey had not chosen a new head to replace Claire and so BSAA had been handling thing until they decided for someone to take over.

Jill pressed the button in the elevator and waited. Her usual visits were usually to check on things in the place, but today it was different. She had received an urgent meeting call from their chief. No details given, but it said to report immediately to TerraSave North HQ. When the door of the elevator opened, she found the familiar figure of Chris standing in front of a wall. He was watching it with a pained expression and Jill felt her heart shrink.

It was the memorial wall. At least that was how the called it in Terra Save, it'd been Claire's idea, for what she'd heard. She recalled the voice of Dr. Hiwamura as she had explained her some months ago, on her first check visit.

"Claire thought it was just a good way to honor the fallen. Most of this people died without leaving a body behind and most have no graveyards or family to mourn them properly. She said real heroes are not always remembered properly and that at least we should give them the honor they deserved as a big family. "

The Memorial Wall was something simple. It was a wall filled with pictures of TerraSave agents who had died in action and there was a table where people could leave flowers or other gifts. The most recent picture, of course, had been Claire's. She saw the pretty portrait that had been set on the table, she noticed that differently from the rest, her picture hadn't be hung on the wall, and when she'd inquire about it the doctor had replied sadly.

"Claire was always good at fooling us with her deaths. Some of us still find hard to accept it was real this time, so no one has had the heart to hang it. Hanging it would somehow mean she is really gone, while having it there is like she'd come to the office one morning and shout at us for slacking off. You may think it's stupid, but it's best for people to reach acceptance, slowly."

Jill could understand, though. She walked to Chris and looked at the pretty picture and noticed the small bouquet of orchids that had been left at the feet of the frame.

"You got her flowers today?" she asked surprised.

"No, it wasn't me. I guess one of her subordinates left it here this morning. A close friend, probably. Orchids were her favorite, but not many knew that." Chris replied softly.

Jill put a hand on the man's shoulder.

"What are you doing here? Came to see her?" she asked.

"No, not today. I was called up for an urgent meeting. I...just thought of passing, since I was here."

"You, too, huh? I wonder what this is about…"

The pair walked to the meeting room and knocked. A voice that they recognized as their chief's told them to come in and they pushed the door open. Jill was surprised to see that not only them were called to this meeting. Beside their Chief, Edward Adams, there was TerraSave CEO, Ian Wentsworth; the new Security secretary of the U.S, Renard Hopkins; Dr. Hiwamura; Barry and Leon, too.

"Ah good, Valentine and Redfield. We were expecting you, please take sit, would you?" their chief said signaling the two empty seats at his left.

Jill and Chris sat down exchanging quizzically looks with the rest of the present. None of them seemed to have any idea of why they had been called here that morning.

"I believe, most of you are thrilled to know the reason we have summoned you here." the chief said reading their thoughts " I am sorry that this meeting came up unexpectedly and I apologize if it interrupted any important duty."

She saw the man look apologetically at Leon. The man nodded in reply, and she guessed that he was probably in some important assignment when he'd been called out.

"However, we considered that you need the first to be notified due to the circumstances…" the man continued.

"What circumstances are you talking about? I am not very patient, you should know that." Barry groaned.

"Yes, of course I do, Barry. Let me fill you about this. Yesterday we received an urgent report from a TerraSave/ BSAA team stationed in Cardigan Bay, Wales.

Adam pushed a set to of folders at them and Jill opened one. She flipped some of its pages reading some random lines. It was a regular report of a sea patrol, but the words "Sea Wreck" and "Survivor" caught her attention.

"Four days ago, the sea patrolling team found a body floating at the coast: a female in her 30's, barely alive, severely wounded and highly dehydrated. Of course, she was taken to a TerraSave health center in the area immediately. She had no identification on herself, but a rescuer from the station seemed to know her."

"Oh…?" Barry frowned.

"There is a picture of her at the end of the file." Adams clarified.

Jill flipped to the end of the folder and her eyes were wide in shock. The woman in the picture had her face covered in bruises and cuts that made her features barely recognizable, her hair was shorter, but it was still the same burgundy color she remembered.

"She said her name was Claire Redfield."

A heavy silence filled the room and Jill could believe what she'd just heard. Claire Redfield? Was that even possible? When the manor exploded, it was impossible that someone survived especially with the wound she had sustained and the clean up team hadn't found any corpse, but still, even if she had managed to escape from that place alive, how had she ended up in Wales?

"Sir…?" Chris mumbled.

"I know Chris, we already arrange for DNA test to confirm it."

"What if she is a clone...made up by Neo-umbrella?" Leon voice muttered softly "They have done it DNA would match."

Jill heart felt broken, among all the present, Chris and Leon were probably the ones who would be the happiest with the news, but their past experiences made them untrustful. It was painful to see that among them, both seemed to be the most skeptical.

"There's a way to...corroborate if it isn't a clone." Dr. Hiwamura said and everyone in the room turned to her.

"Please, elaborate." Hopkins said with interest.

"Cloning searches to reproduce healthy cells, so naturally, unrelated pathologies wouldn't be copied unless it was genetic."

"My sister was healthy...what are you trying to say?" Chris said with a frown.

"She was a carrier of remnants of the T-Phobos. She was infected with an inactive strain of the virus."

"Wait what?" Barry snapped " she got the vaccine, just like Moira and Natalia. Does that mean…?"

"Moira and Natalia are clean. The vaccine was developed based on the virus we found in Claire's body. She volunteered to be the test subject at the time, so the final version of the vaccine had no effect on her. We have keep tracks of it, that was one of the main reason why I was transferred here. The virus exists in Claire's body, however it's lost is infectious capacity. It keeps invading cells and replicating, but her immunological system neutralizes the excess preventing it from growing into infectant dosages..."

"What you are suggesting Dr. Hiwamura?"

"If she was cloned, her immunological system would have been reset and even if they had infected the "new" version with a sample of T-phobos, the virus would be active unlike the one infecting Claire. What happened to Claire was an ecological adaptation to put it simple, so unless they had a clone go through a physiological restrain that she went through and under a exact replica of conditions, the probability of them generating the same reaction is fairly impossible."

"Wait, are you….telling me that she was infected by a variation of the t-virus all this time? Damn, that's probably the reason she'd been targeted eight months ago. How can you tell us this now?" Chris snapped hitting the table.

"We kept it secret for the same reason." Wensworth said shaking his head " When I talked to Claire two years ago, she told me she wanted it that way. Besides Dr. Hiwamura and the men sitting here and Claire herself. No one knew of this fact. The informations was classified, even to her own friends to prevent something like that to happen."

"If she knew...then why didn't she get someone to protect her? Fuck, this could have been prevented…" Chris cursed.

"Chris, calm down…" Jill said pulling his arm trying to convince him to sit down again.

"She rejected the idea. Body guards would have attracted unnecessary attention. I don't think that Claire suspected this to be the reason behind her abduction either."

Chris did not reply. He clenched his fist in anger.

"Dr. Hiwamura, is it a trustworthy way to confirm, Ms. Redfield's identity?" Hopkins asked.

"I am 99% sure, sir. I'd need to do the test."

"And...could you do that if we send you there?"

"Well, if you can drag the whole lab there, yes."

"Guess that's a no. We need to bring the woman here." the Adams muttered.

"I am sure I can contact the local consulate for help." Hopkins said "However, will she be in condition for the trip?"

"Was….she injured badly?"Jill asked.

"Yes, according to the medical report attached. It's a miracle she's alive." Wensworth sighed " Multiple lacerations in her bodies, including organ damage. She lost a lot of blood and some of her injuries were infecting due to seawater. There are more details inside those files."

"There was evidence of struggle. She wasn't thrown to the sea or fell. It's a fair guess that she escaped from someone or from somewhere."

Jill was starting to see what all this conversation was going to.

"Claire's a tough cookie…" Barry commented "always was, always will be."

"Sir, any idea of where did she come from?" Jill asked.

"Unfortunately no, the first assumption was that she'd come from a wrecked ship, but the theory was later refuted when the rescuer recognized her. Listen, I understand this news must be shocking, but if this girl is indeed Claire Redfield. There's no doubt that there is some sort of bioterrorist hazard associated. I want you to go there and investigate the area. See if you find any clues."

Adams looked at the three BSAA agents, and they nodded.

"Agent Kennedy." Hopkins spoke to the blond who had stayed quiet until then "Your order have been changed. This woman has been labeled as especial witness and she will require a special escort. We don't know what sort of thing she might have gone through, but we all agreed that it'd be better if the escort was to be someone she knew."

"I understand." the blond nodded.

"As for Dr. Hiwamura…"

"I'll check her state, yes."

"Very well, you leave today at noon. Please make the proper preparations. "


	22. Part II: Chapter 2

**New chapter, I just wanted to advance the most I could before starting to pub.**

 **Thanks to all reviewers for you feedback. I just want to clarify that this story will most likely have Cleon, but I am person who likes progression and evolving, and I don't want to rush that into the story. All I ask is patience. I'm trying to keep it realistic and in character while throwing in the plot, and it is kind of challenging, but I'm doing my best.**

* * *

Leon

He would have been lying if he said he hadn't been annoyed by the sudden interruption of his current assignment, but orders were orders. He had arrived early to TerraSave NA HQ, but he didn't miss the chance to stop by a flower shop on his way there. He knew nothing about orchids, but he picked a bright pinkish one.

"So you are the orchid boy."

Leon turned around just to meet with the interested look of Dr. Hiwamura.

"I was wondering who was the devoted one who kept bringing those exotic flowers."

The japanese woman stood in front of the Memorial Wall and lit three incense sticks in ceremonious manner.

"Most of the boys here keep bringing more traditional bouquets. Claire would have been certainly annoyed, but you...Mr. Kennedy, you know your deal."

"Claire told me she liked orchids." He admitted "That was probably the last "normal" talk we had…"

"Oh, she did. She named all of her procedures after orchids after all, however she just said it was practical and she liked those name better than numbers. What a shy woman."

Leon let out a soft chuckle.

"Sounds like her. She wouldn't admit she picked the names because she liked them, now that's all that is left of her…"

"You sound regretful…"

Regretful? Perhaps he was. It was cliché, but it was true that one didn't know what he was missing until it was gone. Maybe he should have called her more often, just for chatting and not only when there was job in the way; or maybe he should have paid her visit every now and then; but he knew better, there was no point thinking of that sort of things now. It would be one of many things he'll regret, but Claire was gone and it wouldn't be fixed.

"Perhaps…" he sighed.

"Claire would punch some sense of you if she saw that look on your face."

He had to admit, she would. He could almost picture the redhead's glare as she complained about him being hard on himself and needing to let loose.

"She probably would…"

"We all miss her so it is all right. "Hiwamura said patting his shoulder "it's rare to see you around this early, don't you have some secret mission to do?"

"I had...but my mission was interrupted by a urgent call summoning me here."

"You, too huh? I got the same call, it seems. I wonder what it is about."

"Your guess is as good as mine." Leon replied shaking his head "but I guess we are bound to find out soon."

"I've got the feeling that it is bio-terrorism related."

Leon snorted. Had it ever been otherwise?

The pair entered the meeting room, and Leon was surprised to see his direct superior, Renard Hopkins, talking to other two men. One of them he only knew by name, the current head chief of BSAA : Edward Adams; the second man, he didn't recognize him, but he seemed like executive of some kind.

"Ah, Leon. Welcome. "Renard said shaking his hand "Forgive me for interrupting your current mission, but I am sure you'll soon understand the priorities."

Leon shook the man's hand formally and nodded.

"I am sure that interruption is justified, sir."

"It is. Let me introduce these gentlemen. This is Edward Adams chief and commander of BSAA North America and Ian Wensworth CEO of TerraSave."

Leon shook the hands of both men with a nod.

"This is the first time we meet in person, right Mr. Kennedy?" chief Adams said "Though I've heard much about you. Please take seat. We will start the briefing as soon as my men arrive."

Leon nodded and sat on the chair next Dr. Hiwamura. There was a big window behind him and there was a nice view of the far mountains that he almost found relaxing.

"Claire used to sit there…" the Hiwamura's voice took him out from his thoughts. The woman was staring at him, but her attention wasn't on him but on some memory in her mind "Sometimes she came here and sat in front of that window for hours. Always thinking of something, but never saying what...she could be a difficult person. I always told her that keeping things to herself wasn't healthy."

"Did she...had problems?"

"Who doesn't? We all do, but that woman. She saw so much dead and suffering, but she always kept the smile up, because she knew someone had to even in the hardest times. Her loss is like losing the moral support that TerraSave had. I heard the other regions are mourning her, too."

"Claire always knew how to touch people's hearts…" he admitted.

"Did she get yours, too?" Hiwamura asked casually; the question took Leon by surprise.

Had she? It was not a lie, that he had kept Claire in a special place since the beginning, but he never thought much about it. Leon never got the chance to answer that question since at that same moment the rest of the summoned made their entrance. First had been Barry, the old ex-S.T.A.R walked grumpily to a seat and sat down without much words; not too long after, Chris and Jill arrived. As soon as the pair had taken sit, chief Adams began talking.

The case didn't seem out of normal and Leon was wondering why would he be urgently called and reassigned to it when he flipped the last page of the folder he'd be given. His heart skipped a beat as he saw the picture that had been attached to it.

"Claire…" he muttered.

It was her, he was sure. Her face might have been covered in bruises and injuries, but he could never miss her face and the burgundy locks that fell over it. The hair was shorter than he remembered though. Leon was suddenly hit by a mix of anxiety, confusion and excitement. He had to put a lot of effort into not throwing up the table and demanding for an explanation; instead, the agent simply breathed and read the notes in the page. She had been severely injured and for what he read, she was in a pretty critical condition. Could this really be here? Could it really be his Claire? He couldn't help but doubt. He knew that Neo-Umbrella was capable of creating clones; he had seen one himself after all. If they could make a copy of Ada, what was stopping them from doing something similar with Claire?

However when he'd heard Hiwamura's explanation about Claire's condition and how it could help identifying her, he wasn't sure whether he was glad or mad. Claire had been infected for two years with a special strain of the t-virus. Even if it was inactive, something like that was a heavy burden to keep, and yet she'd kept it quiet. How many things had she kept quiet about? If this woman was indeed Claire, he'd definitely have a word about that later.

When the meeting ended, he could read the uncertainty mixed with hope in the atmosphere. Chris had said nothing. The man had exchanged looks with him and then left with Jill and Barry almost immediately; Dr. Hiwamura also excused herself; she had things that required packing and activities that needed to reschedule.

As he was left alone in the corridor, he felt a pat on his back and he found Hopkins standing a couple steps behind him.

"I believe you now see what I meant by priorities."

"Sir?"

"There is a high chance that this woman is indeed, Ms. Redfield. Now then, why would a presumed dead person appear after eight months thousands of miles away from the place she disappeared and in that condition?I doubt there's casualty involved."

"You believe she escaped from somewhere, don't you?"

"We have no proof of that yet and she has yet to wake up; but I won't deny you, I suspect it is like that. It is speculation, but I don't want to take a chance. If our guesses are right there's no doubt that her captors are most likely interested in retrieving her or silencing for good. I could have assigned any of our agents to this case, but I think you are the one who should be doing it."

"I understand…"

This time. I won't fail. He thought as he walked away.

Leon wasn't fond of airplanes. He had pretty bad experiences on them in the past and there was nothing more troublesome than being stuck in the air in case of an attack. The trip to Wales had been quiet one since the travelers were all busy with their own thoughts and he was not exception. By the time they had reached their destination the sun had long gone down, but they were were taken immediately to see Claire anyway. None of them felt like waiting, after all. They were received by her doctor, a ginger headed woman named Abigail Nolan. She was the one who had recognize Claire. Apparently she had met the younger Redfield in one of TerraSave operatives in Europe some time before Claire had been promoted.

"We have put her into isolation." the Dr. Nolan explained as she lead them to the intensive care unit"her injuries were highly infected due to the exposure to the sea water. She's quite delicate at the moment, but she's been reacting well to antibiotics."

As the nurse kept speaking about Claire's health status, they watched her weakened figure lying in the bed from the other side of the crystal. It was then that Leon realized how bad her condition was; she had thinned even more than the last time he had seen her and she was terribly pale.

"I understand, can I take a look on the results from the blood tests you performed?" Dr. Hiwamura asked.

"Of course, that should be no problem, I'll show you as soon they're ready."

"Has she been unconscious all this time?" Chris asked.

"Yes, unfortunately. She arrived in a really bad shape. It was much of a miracle that she was saved, if she'd been found a day later she might have not made it."

"Any idea of what happened to her?" Leon inquired.

"I am afraid no. We will have to wait until she wakes up and tell us herself."

"That will certainly take some time." Hiwamura muttered " Her conditions is worst than I expected, but judging by the infection rate she wasn't in the sea that long. The injuries must have been acquired on dry land, so my guess is that she fell off or jumped in an escape attempt."  
"Or she was pushed…." Chris muttered.

"Yes. Either way, she received quite a beating before she was into the water. That's a given."

"There are old scars on her body as well. We were wondering if she was being tortured, wherever she was…"

"Maybe, but Claire had her own collection of scars anyway."

"We guessed that as well, but the tissue is particularly thin and typical from recent scars, so they can't be that old. There's a big one in her left shoulder…."

Leon felt cold, he knew the story behind that scar. That day, the day in which she had "died", the B.O.W had pierced her shoulder. The long sharp claw had struck her left shoulder nailing her against the wall; the image still haunted his dreams some nights.

"The wound was well treated, so wherever she came from, they've got good doctors."

"Yeah, we can worry about that later." Barry shrugged.

"Dr. Nolan!" a nurse came to them in a rush.

"What's wrong Diana?"

"Ms. Redfield…she's awake."


	23. Part II: Chapter 3

**Another chapter for you guys.**

 **I hope you are enjoying the story so far. Claire is back :)**

* * *

 _Claire_

She felt the pain and the numbness grow stronger as she slowly regained consciousness. At first she felt disoriented and confused; her vision was blurred and she could barely make out the contour of some shapes that were close to her line of vision. She tried to recall what had happened, but her memories were blurred and unclear. She should have grown used to that already; it wasn't the first time she woke up with no idea of what had happened in the recent hours; in fact it had almost become an habit.

When her vision finally cleared, she immediately noticed the white tiled ceiling, the white walls, the beeping sound of the medical machines and the heavy scent of sanitizer.

 _You are awake…_

She recognized the voice. She'd grown used to it in the last months, always there, whispering into her head. The voice had, then, turned into something more...corporeal? She looked in front and there she was; a girl in her teens, with auburn hair tied up in a ponytail and wearing a black blouse and shorts. The first time she had seen her, she'd panicked; but after months of her being her only companion in confinement, she had grown used to this hallucination of her former/ younger self.

She never told the medics she could see her. They already thought she was crazy, so why give them more fuel?

 _How long are you going to stay like this?_

Claire didn't know. All she knew now was that she was feeling too much pain and that she wanted to throw up.

 _You're wasting time...this is useless…_

"Shut ….up…" Claire mumbled weakly; her voice came out raw and trembling.

The girl had ignored her, but someone else had heard it. A woman wearing a white nurse uniform had rushed to her side. She began checking on the machine and then at her. Her big green eyes looking at her with concern. Claire didn't recognize her. Was she new?

The woman was talking; asking her questions, but Claire couldn't hear her.

She felt as if something had been dropped over her head and an avalanche of memories began to fill her head. The images were cut off, nothing seemed to be making much sense: she saw white tiles, a open window; a music box; a book; fire; the scent of burned flesh; monsters; darkness… She couldn't make sense of the things going through her head at the moment, but there was something she understood: the urgency of escaping.

After a couple seconds, she was finally able to put together an idea. She had to run, this people….she couldn't remember why, but this people were dangerous. She had to run away.

The nurse was gone.

"Oh...no…"

 _What will you do?_

"I tried to….escape…"

Yes she remembered that. She had tried to run away from them, from the monsters; but she must had failed and they had dragged her all the way back. The doctor would be furious.

"Oh,no….no,no,no…."

Claire pushed her weakened body up and pulled out the tubes hooked into her with ease. With a quick spin that sent a wave of undescribable pain into every nerve in her body, she managed to get herself out of bed. Her weakened legs barely managed to support her weight for a second before she dropped unceremoniously onto the cold white tiles in the floor.

. _What are you doing?_

Claire ignored the sting of pain that she felt when she tried to push herself back again.

"I...am not…" she mumbled, but why was she running away? She couldn't remember.

All she knew was that urgency of getting out; her senses warning her of an unknown danger. She need to find help...but who? Her attempt to escape had failed after all.

She gave up the idea of trying to stand and instead, she began dragging herself on the cold floor. Suddenly, she felt a warm and wet sensation on her abdomen. She was bleeding; had it been someone else, the view of the blood trail she was leaving on the floor would have caused alarm and fear; but this wasn't the first time that she woke up covered in injuries that she didn't remember getting.

 _Remember…._

A sudden image crossed her mind; like the ones before it felt cut off. She saw a dark room, the only light coming from an yellow lamp hung over her head. A few distance from her, she saw something, a creature dismembering someone with a disgusting crunch. A sudden need to throw up came to her.

 _Do you remember?_

Did she? Were those images memories or just scenes from a nightmare? She couldn't trust the things she saw, after all. The proof of it stood a few steps from her. Crazy people shouldn't trust their minds.

 _Do we know who we are?_

Claire took a deep breath. She remembered her name at least. Strangely, her name was the one of the few thing she never forgot; just like ghostly doppelganger that kept whispering into her head. She had held onto her name so that she could retain the bits of sanity that she had left.

The blood had began to pool under her staining the pale hospital gown. The loss of blood was starting to take a toll on her and she felt dizzy.

 _Tell me then...do you remember?_

"I...can't…." she whispered "I ….just...can't… I never can…"

Her ghostly doppelganger had crouched in front of her and she found her own cerulean eyes staring had wanted to say something, but her words were drowned by a sudden scream.

"OH MY GOD. Ms. REDFIELD!"

The nurse had returned; this time she wasn't alone. Panic started to fill her and the woman pushed herself away from them until her back hit the wall in the corner. Her heart was beating fast. The doctors would be pissed at her. What would be her punishment this time?

She never remembered, but her scars were a reminder that they had been real and no hallucinations from her sick mind.

Her body tensed as she felt the nurses grabbing her arms and her immediate response was to push back and struggle. She was too weak, too tired and to much in pain, but the adrenaline was making her head a little clearer.

"No…" she mumbled "No….let me go. No more, please…."

"Ms. Redfield please calm down. We won't hurt you…."

"No...no….please….stop it."

She didn't stop struggling. She knew she couldn't if she wanted to survive. The pain was growing unbearable, but she wouldn't give in.

Suddenly, she felt a strong warm arm wrapping around her shoulders. It was odd, it wasn't threatening nor it felt dangerous. On the contrary, the sensation was familiar, soothing and she automatically stopped struggling. She, then, heard a soft voice humming into her ear; softly and lovingly. She knew the song, but as much as she tried she couldn't remember from where.

 _He came for you…._

She knew this warmth and that scent; but from where? They had never done this before. What were they planning? Was this a trap to trick her?

 _No...he isn't…_

Claire stopped moving. Her cerulean eyes were foggy as she turned to the person hugging her with strong and warm arms. She met the gaze of a man with dark eyes and short brown hair. His eyes were glassy, almost as if he had been holding back tears and something about his features felt awfully familiar.

 _Familiar….yes, family. Do you remember…?_

"Shuush….Calm down, Claire. It's fine, you're safe now...you're safe…" the man was whispering at her; softly, soothingly and calming. His voice made her relax.

Her body memory could recognize him, but why couldn't her mind? She wanted to remember him; she needed to; but as much as she tried, her thoughts came blank.  
Claire stared at the man with a frustration, sadness and...resignation?

"Who are you...?"


	24. Part II: Chapter 4

I must thank the people of who's commented on the story. To tell the truth I was quite scared to publish it since the RE fandom seems to be quite strict on critics. I am doing my best to keep the characters in character as much as I can.

Chris is quite pissed now.

I hope you enjoy this chapter.

* * *

 _Chris_

The chain of events, that had suddenly taken place, fell on them like a chaotic storm. A minute he was standing in the doctor's office hearing her explain his supposedly diseased sister's situation and the next he found himself running behind a group of alarmed nurses. He could make out the sound of footsteps following behind him and guessed that his companions were not too far behind.

When they finally stepped into the room, the view made him stagger. Claire was on the floor. A crimson pool of blood had formed under her and her once white robe was know stained in red. He saw the woman flinch the moment they broke into the room; her thin body pressed against the wall behind her almost as if she was hoping it would swallow her whole.

At that instant, all doubts he had harbored about the identity of this woman vanished. With or without the DNA test they had planned, he already knew the answer. Call it a brother intuition, but the moment he saw her face he knew it. The look of fear and panic in her eyes was a look he hadn't seen in years. It had been when their parents had just died; he was 15 and she was only 9. She had woken up from a nightmare and she had come into his rooms crying due to a nightmare; the look had eventually disappeared as she grew older. As his brother, seen her broken like this for the first time in years broke him.

Despite her injuries, Claire struggled, kicked and pushed away any attempt of the nurse to reach her desperately and the was all he could take. He stepped into the room, broke through the group of nurses and, with a quick movement, caught Claire's fragile body in a gentle hug. She had stopped struggling; he didn't know if it was because it was him or because she was shocked, but he didn't't care. His brother mode kicked in by default and he found himself humming softly into her ear as he used to do when they were younger and he gladly found that, despite the years, the trick still worked. Claire was slowly calming down; her breathing was starting to even up and her muscles relaxed.

However, nothing could have prepared him for what happened then. Claire had stared into his eyes confused and sad.

"Who are you?" she whispered softly.

And that was it. The oldest Redfield felt his heart sink as the words had left her lips in an almost inaudible whisper. This was Claire; _his_ Claire; his baby sister. Not a damn clone created by damn virus. This was his beloved sister whom he had believed death for eight months.

A bright and cheerful woman who had no reservations on teasing him and pestering him when she could, bicker with him and shout at him when he forgot to call her too many times. The one who would run into a city full of zombies just to find him or infiltrate a high security facility for him.

And she couldn't remember him…

Chris swallowed hard trying to keep his temper from flaring up. He didn't want the already sensible Claire to think he was mad at her, because he wasn't. He was mad at the bastards who had done this to his sister. He didn't care who they were, was it Neo-Umbrella or any other terrorist group, all he wanted was to find them and make sure they had a very painful death.

He picked her from the floor and gently left on the bed. Claire was still staring at him, trying to understand...perhaps trying to makeout who he was.

He caressed her cheek affectively, noticing -to his relief- that she wasn't pulling back.

"It's okay. You are safe now. I am here and I won't let anyone hurt you, alright?"

Claire hesitated and then nodded.

"They want to help you, so I need you let them, okay? I promise I won't let them harm you."

She nodded again.

"That's my girl."

Chris stepped aside to let the the nurses do their job and he reluctantly walked out of the room. Jill, Barry and Leon were standing in the corridor with quizzical and concerned looks. He didn't say anything. He was still trying his cool. His fists were clenched so hard that his knuckles were white. He could feel the anger building up. He'd been furious when he had he had lost Jill to Wesker to find her as a foe later on; he'd been furious when he had lost his men to Ada Wong's doppelganger in Edonia, but that anger was nothing compared to what he was feeling now.

Barry could tease him all he wanted with his "sister complex".

"Chris?" he heard Jill's soft whisper and he felt her hand resting in his shoulder.

"What….happened?" Barry asked "Is Claire alright?"

Chris didn't reply immediately, The last thing he wanted was to snap at them, He took a deep breath,

"She's Claire…" he whispered " I just know it is her."

"Well… that is awesome!" Barry said, but noticing Chris's grave look, he instantly knew something wasn't right "Chris?"

"She...didn't recognize me."

"What?"

"It is hard to explain. It's like she knew me, she could recognize me...but she didn't remember face...God, I hadn't seen that face in years. She was broken and lost."

"Chris, calm down. It must be the 'll come around…"

"You didn't see her, Jill. They did something to her. They messed her up and I am going to make them pay. I'll hunt them down and cut them in pieces."

"Chris, please...you need to calm down…"

"I understand how you feel…"

Leon, who had been silently listening to them, finally spoke up. The blonde was staring at him stoically.

"We _will_ find those bastards and we _will_ make them pay. And count me in when you tear them into pieces, but that will have to wait because right now our priority is Claire and she needs her brother, remembers him or not. So get a grip of yourself Redfield."

Chris hated to admit it, but Leon was right. His revenge would have to wait.

"When did you learn to be reasonable, Kennedy?"

He saw the blonde smirk.

"So...memory loss?" Jill said softly "That sure complicates things. Any chance she may remember what happened to her?"

"It might be the only she can remember now…" Chris replied bitterly "Judging by how terrified she was…"

Chris sat down on a bench and began rubbing his face tired and frustrated. Why did these things seem to always happen to them?

"It'd be a sensitive topic then. We should address it with ...tact…" Leon commented "How bad was it?"

"You have no idea." Chris sighed.

"We should give it a little time though. She just woke up in an unknown room, naturally she would feel overwhelmed." Jill said hopefully.

"Let's hope you're right, Jill…" Barry groaned.

The door suddenly opened and Dr. Hiwamure, holding a folder, came in along Dr. Nolan. Both women seemed to be absorbed in conversation. The asian was visibly concerned. She stared a them for a moment before finally speaking.

"The test came back."

"Well, that was fast…." Barry said.

"I might have done a couple things to put them on priority report." Hiwamura replied.

"So how is it?" Chris asked impatiently.

"Hemogram shows very low red cell counts and low platelets. She's showing signs of anemia and thrombocytopenia; which explains the bleeding. Her white cell counts is very irregular, but her white cell count can't really be trusted…."

"How come?"

"Immune disorders…" Hiwamura replied rapidly.

Chris knew she what she was implying. The permanent presence of a viral agent in her body naturally caused anomalies in her inmunological report.

"But the infections are under control so the antibiotics sure did their job. A couple days more on them and she should be fine. We should suspend the treatment after that…"

"Oh, of course...if you say so."

"All right, would you mind delivering this to the lab?"

Hiwamura handled Dr. Nolan a sheet of paper. The woman looked at her puzzled and then nodded. She politely smiled at the the rest of the present, obviously taking the hint that she wasn't supposed to hear the rest of the conversation and walked out closing the door.

" Right. Now to the point..." Hiwamura sighed . She pulled out a sheet of paper" Toxicology. Claire has large traces of benzodiazepines. An antidepressant…." she added for sure "She was under a heavy dosage of the drug, which also means she's probably going through a withdrawal rebound after not taking the meds for the past days. It's going to get rough…"

"Rebound?"

"Benzodiazepines have pretty rough effects when the dosage is suddenly dropped. Symptoms include anxiety, panic attacks, dizziness and paranoia."

"There must be something that can be done…" Chris said worried.

"Yes, of course. I will administer some small quantities of the drugs to try and ease the rebound immediate symptoms and then we will work on lifting it off paulatinaly. It's not the best treatment, but in Claire's case, it might be our best chance." Hiwamura said.

"Why would they give her antidepressants…"

"Claire was taking antidepressants. No benzodiazepines though. I prescribed amitriptyline"

"My sister was taking antidepressants? She never… I didn't know that. Why?"

"Well, it was...kind of her idea…" Hiwamura replied as she tilted her head to a side "It helped control the effects of the T-Phobos. "

"I thought you said it was inactive…." Chris snapped.

"Mutagenically speaking yes. There was no danger of Claire suddenly turning into bloodthirsty mutant just because she found a spider crawling under her table…"

Chris could have laughed if he hadn't been so preoccupied about finding out why his sister had been taking psychotropics under his nose. Claire was a brave woman in many points, but she simply had a ridiculous fear of spiders.

"The virus messed up with her head causing symptoms of insomnia, migraines and other minor symptoms. Wasn't too bad. She was using herself as test subject. Something about the mechanism of action of the virus. Virus mambo-jambo that I really didn't pay much attention to…"

"Why would using a antidepressant help her with that?"

"Amitriptyline is used to treat other pathologies beside depression. It prolongs the activity of serotonin and noradrenaline in the brain easing symptoms such pain, anxiety and alike. The T-phobos tended to become an annoyance when she was under a lot of stress and she eventually figured out that it could be treated as a psychiatric pathology."

And Claire had figured that out alone? What had his sister been doing all the time that he had been away ?

"Chris noticed that Claire was showing signs of memory loss…" Leon said "Any chance she could recover?"

"Mmm yeah, that would be so. Benzodiazepines have amnesia as a side effect. It should wear off once we take off the drugs. But I sent for a tomography just to be sure that there's not any kind of brain damage."

"So Claire's memory will come back."

"Yes, most likely. Perhaps some will come faster than others. Drug induced amnesia works in strange ways sometimes."

"But there's a high chance, right? I mean it won't be permanent..." Jill asked.

"No, I don't think it is permanent. She's lost, confused and scared. Even without the drug effect on her, I'm sure she'd have reacted that way after waking up in an unknown place." Hiwamura turned to Chris "Be patient. If things go well with the "cleansing" treatment I have prescribed, Claire will remember you in a few days..."

Chris face lit up; his anger was still burning inside him and he would give anything to kill some bioterrorists, but for now, he was glad to hear the doctors words. Claire, _his_ Claire, would come back, and once she did, he'd make sure to hunt down the bastards that took her from him.


	25. Part II: Chapter 5

Sorry. It seems like a bit of the chapter had been cut off so this is is the corrected version!

* * *

 _Claire_

She woke up for the second time in an unknown room; but unlike the first time, she felt her head clearer and much more lucid. The first thing she did was trying to replay her latest memories; it had become a small ritual for her, since she would often wake up with no recollection of what she had done the day before or even the past few hours. She was relieved when the small pieces of memories had come to her mind.

Claire pushed herself into a sitting position and looked around. The room was empty and silent; the white walls reflected the pale light coming from the fluorescent bulb on the the ceiling making the room particularly bright. That was okay, light was safety for her after all; but the lack of sound in the room made her feel uneasy. There were no nurses nor doctors; not even the sound of other patients around and it made a shudder run down her spine.

She let her legs hang over the edge of the bed and tested the strength of her muscles before she got up. The sensation was completely different from what she'd felt the first time she had tried to stand; her feet didn't tremble, nor did they feel like jelly sticks. They were strong and firm, almost normal.

 _Surprised, aren't we?_

Claire turned to find her usual "friend" standing by the door with her arms crossed, her back resting against the wall and her eyes glowering with a playful look.

"Should have known you wouldn't leave me alone…" Claire replied in a whisper.

 _Have I ever left you? You and I… aren't we the same?_

"Sometimes I wonder…"

Her doppelganger straightened herself and stretched her arms over her head.

"Where am I?"

 _I don't know. Maybe we should find out._

Claire didn't reply, but she soon found herself walking out the door and into a long white corridor. She looked around puzzled. The corridor extended to both sides with white windowless walls and white plain tiles; there were hanging lamps that filled the space with clarity and beside that, there was nothing else.

"Hello?" she called, but no one answered.

The corridor was deathly silent and deserted. Her doppelganger walked past her. She stood at the center of the corridor and looked down and Claire noticed that there was something on the ground: it was a photograph with slightly worn edges.

Claire looked at her closely and a sense of familiarity filled her chest. The photograph showed a man with chestnut hair that at first glance would seem intimidating, but the look he showed in the photograph was affectionate and gentle. He stood side by side with a younger version of her: one that looked much like her doppelganger. She was smiling happily while hugging the man's arm.

"I've seen this man before. He was in the room…"

 _He was. Hasn't he always been there when we needed him?_

Claire looked at the photograph for a moment. With her hand she traced the outline of the image. They both looked happy and without realizing it, her lips curled into a smile.

"I know him, don't I?"

 _Perhaps….perhaps no. What do you think?_

Her doppelganger walked a around her. The girl was staring at the walls as if she had great interest on them and Claire realized that, suddenly, there were frames hanging from the walls: more pictures. Claire moved closer and examined each of them with interest. Like the one she had found on the ground, all the pictures showed her along the man with dark hair.

" That's me and that man again? What's this place…?"

 _Isn't that obvious? This is your mind…_

"My mind?"

Claire paced along the wall; her hand touching each of the pictures gently. There was an odd sensation of familiarity about them. Her eyes locked on the face of the man staring back at her. She traced the outline of his features and she realized that she'd seen his face long before meeting him in the room; maybe once or twice when she had skipped the pills. She remembered whispering his name in the darkness and hoping he would come and find her; wanting to see him and hear him. Wishing for him to come and protect her just as he did when they were kids…but what was his name?

 _Tic-toc...Tic...toc…. Time is running out. Hurry._

"Time?" Claire looked at her doppelganger in confusion.

The girl had stopped her pacing. She was standing a few steps from her with her head tilted at her direction.

A loud screech broke the silence of the place making Claire's heart stop. Her face paled as she saw the lights at the far end of the corridor go out creating a dark black patch.

 _Tic toc…. This is your chance...Remember… if you don't, you may lose it._

Claire immediate response was running; running as far as she could from the approaching darkness. She knew there were "demons" that lurked under the veil of darkness, and she knew she stood no chance against them. She wished he was here to help her the way he always came to her aid. Suddenly, a prick of pain pierced her head and the images fell over her in a painful cascade:

She saw the man running to her with a bright smile…

 _Do you see it?_

She saw herself sitting on a living room chatting with him while eating pizza…

 _Try… Try harder..._

She saw a younger him wearing black clothes and holding her hand as she cried.

 _It's getting closer._

She saw him hugging her in the lobby of and strange old house.

 _Hurry…_

He was hugging her and spinning her around as she laughed.

 _...1_ …

Chris…

She knew him.

 _...2…_

Chris...

He was important...She loved him.

 _...3…_

The scattered images filled her head; she saw the dark haired man; she also saw a woman and older man with beard; she also saw a girl with short hair and rebellious look; she saw monsters and she saw a young man with dirty blonde hair...

 _It is here…_

The lights of the rooms went off completely leaving her in complete darkness. Her heart beat raised, her breathing rushed and she could feel the panic growing. She didn't like darkness. When it was dark they came…and when they came…

She heart the heavy breathing behind her, the screeching of their nails, their fetid scent of blood…they were closer. She could hear them…feel them...

" _CHRIS HELP ME!"_

Her eyes snapped open. Claire looked around in panic, half expecting to find herself surrounded by the terrifying creatures from the dark that she had learned to fear, but instead, she was only greeted by the white inocuos walls and the bright light of the lamp over her head. Her breathing was uneven and painful and, as she tried to calm herself, she realized someone was holding her. A familiar scent, a familiar strenght that was firm and yet delicate; a sense of love she had grown with and she welcomed gratefully knowing how much had she missed it.

"Chris….? Is...is it really you…? I am not hallucinating, am I?" she almost sobbed"You really are here.".

She felt his hand stroking her back gently while the other held her firmly in his embrace. It was so nice to have a that bit of familiarity back after so long. Claire stared at Chris's familiar eyes; the same ones she had stared at in her dream state.

"Hallucinating? No,it's me...it is me…." he whispered "I am here...I am really here..."

"You found me; you really found me..….I hoped you would find me."

"I am sorry I didn't find you sooner. "

"You...always take your damn time anyway…"

"My bad…" Chris smiled "I won't let you out of my sight again."

Claire laughed weakly and then she broke. She felt tears sliding down her cheeks and she realized she had unconsciously started crying. She hadn't cry in a long time, not even when she had undergone the most painful tests; but there, in her brother's arms, she simply broke into a bag of tears and sobs. For the first time in long while, she finally felt that some of missing pieces of her mind were finally in their place.

"You have no idea how glad I am that you remember me…." Chris said " I thought…"

"Yeah...it's been like this for a while…"she replied with a watered down version of her teasing look "It comes and goes at times…my memories, I mean…"

"What?" Chris said pushing her back a little to look at her " What do you mean?"

"It's...complicated. I will explain...eventually, I guess…"

The scarce memories from the past few months that had come back to her weren't pretty; some of them made her shudder: nurses covered in blood; a doctor with blurred face injecting a dark liquid into the IV line in her arm; the screams from the other patients, the metallic scent of blood and decay; the piercing pain and the immense fear of the dark. She unconsciously grabbed her arm feeling the phantom pain of the thick thing going through her vein.

How was she supposed to tell him? Chris would surely get pissed, furious to be more precise.

 _We must tell him… We made it out this time, but how long will it last? Perhaps tomorrow we won't remember...just like it happened before..._

The voice echoed in her head. She hated it, but her inner friend was had to warn him about the new virus; if only she could remember more about it.

"Chris?" she whispered in a trembling voice.

"Yeah?" he answered. He seemed so happy and relieved and she just hated that fact that what she was about to tell would most likely ruin his mood.

"Chris...there's something you must know. There's a virus…"

"Virus? Yeah...There's always one..." Chris sighed.

"It is a new virus…"

Chris looked at her and then shook his head. He then raised his hand and caressed her head like he always did.

"It's alright, Claire. We can talk about that later. You just woke and probably need a little more rest..."

"No…"

Tell him. He must know…

"No, Chris. You must know. The new virus...I...I have it."

The last bit had come out in soft whisper.

"What?"

"Chris…"

"Sorry… I think I heard wrong…"

" No, Chris. I am infected..."

* * *

 **Not sure if anyone reads the end notes, but here goes nothing. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Claire memories are back...in a way.**

 **Claire might seem a little OC at times, but it is due to the circumstances she's gone is all part of the story.**

 **I wanted to give more backstory to CLaire and Chris relationship amd here it is!**

 **Until next chapt :)**


	26. Part II: Chapter 6

**Last chapter got cut off by accident. IT missed a little piece at the end of it. But it was retaken in this one.**

 **Enjoy.**

* * *

 _Chris_

He didn't remember when was the last time he had spent his nights sitting on a uncomfortable chair from a hospital room, but he was sure it wasn't something he wanted to get used to.

He had spent the last three days in Claire's room. After her little panic episode, Hiwamura had chosen to give her some sedatives just prevent her from waking up as a panic wreck and tearing up the stitches from her injured abdomen again. The doctor had seemed adamant to administer another drug to her already doped system, but she wouldn't take the risk of having her patient hurting herself unknowingly. As a result, Claire had remained knocked out for three consecutive days. The good news, however, was that Claire's seemed to be healing fast, maybe a little too fast for a normal person.

He had skipped duties for the last few days; something he never did, but due to the circumstances, both Jill and Barry had insisted him to stay by Claire's side while they handled the BSAA duties for him. Leon had been around, too. The blonde agent would come in and out of the room at random hours and he would stand at the foot of the bed staring at Claire's sleeping form silently. They rarely spoke; they just stayed there watching in silence with arms crossed and a deep frown. Both men were absorbed in their own thoughts.

Chris looked at Leon with the corner of his eye. They weren't exactly "close" and they had sure grown distant since Claire's "event"; but Chris and Leon's work had often led them to cross paths; their meetings were often rushed and darkened by the imminent dangers of an upcoming apocalypse; so friendly chit chatting was never an option. They had different tempers and very different ways of working and that would often lead them to crash; but despite that, there was a mutual respect and understanding between the two.

Although, they often had disagreements; they both shared something in common: Claire. Chris hadn't blamed Leon for what had happened to his sister, but he knew, from Jill, that the agent had certainly felt responsible for it. How Jill had found out, Chris didn't know; but now, looking at the blonde in the room, he could see how concerned he was about his sister. The agent's phone beeped and after checking the screen the man had excused himself and walked out of the room with slow steps. Chris watched him disappear behind the door and sighed.

Suddenly, a loud beeping sound interrupted his thoughts and he looked at Claire's vitals in the screen. Her heart beat had raised significantly andhe saw that his sister had begun to jolt in her sleep. She seemed to be mumbling something, but the words were were so soft that Chris couldn't hear them under the other noises of the room.

"Claire…?" Chris whispered grabbing her hand and rubbing it with his thumb. She seemed to be trapped in a nightmare and judging by what Dr. Hiwamura had told him, nightmare's were a regular thing for Claire.

He'd had his own share of nightmares after all the horrors he had witnessed with the years, and Claire had always lent him a supportive ear whenever he'd needed to vent; but Claire had never told him about her own nightmares. It was a bad habit that she gained as she grew up; a habit which was mostly his fault. With all the things he had to handle in his former job in S.T.A.R.S, Claire had always worked hard to worry him as less as she could.

Of course she had gone through a rebellious stage at once, but it was mostly because she had suddenly gained interest in bikes when she began college. The siblings would often bicker, but their bickerings would be forgotten almost as fast as they would build up. What were siblings for if they didn't argue every now and then, after all? However in general, Claire had been a good girl. She never got herself in troubles, mostly; except by the few times he had been called by her school counselor because Claire had beaten up a few of her male classmates; at the time she had claimed innocence saying that those punches have been well earned since the boys have been perverted pigs trying to peek into the girl's changing room after gym class or because they had dared to say an inappropriate comment about her body parts. Chris knew he should have been angry, but at the time he couldn't stop himself from laughing and feeling proud of his sister's jab punch; the girl had also kept pretty good grades which earned her the title of Redfield's Little Brain. She had felt so annoyed about that nickname when he had first used it, but eventually got used to it.

The memories brought a faint smile to the lone soldier's lips, but then it was soon overshadowed by the fear that she might not remember them.

"...Chris…"

He looked at the woman surprised. Had he heard right? Claire was mumbling his name in her sleep?

"CHRIS HELP ME…"

The woman's eyes snapped open. The beeping of the machine had gone crazy with the sudden increase of speed of her heart beat and Chris had instinctively reached to her.

Claire had looked around in panic, but he had soon caught her in his arms and began soothing her the same way he had done the first time she had woken up.

"Chris….? Is...is it really you…? I am not hallucinating, am I?" she had whispered with a trembling voice that almost sounded as a sob and made his heart break. He rubbed her back gently trying to calm her trembling body.

He couldn't explain the wave of relief that had washed over him the moment he had heard her

"You really are here.".

"Hallucinating? No,it's me...it is me…." he whispered "I am here...I am really here..."

"You found me; you really found me..….I hoped you would find me."

"I am sorry I didn't find you sooner. "

"You...always take your damn time anyway…"

"My bad…" Chris couldn't help but smile at her sister's comment. God, how he had missed her sense of humor. "I won't let you out of my sight again."

Claire had laughed weakly and suddenly he saw the tears in her cerulean eyes. Claire's shoulders had begun shaking as she broke into tears. He hadn't seen Claire cry in years. The last time had been in an old broken laboratory in Antartica when her friend had died in the hands of a crazy woman infected with a bioengineered virus. Chris had never been good at dealing crying women and his sister's crying was definitely his weakness. It'd been that way since they were young when she would give him that sad puppy look whenever she wanted something.

The man looked around trying to come out with something to say.

"You have no idea how glad I am that you remember me…." he said " I thought…"

"Yeah...it's been like this for a while…"she replied cleaning away her tears and looking at him with a watered down version of her teasing look "It comes and goes at times…my memories, I mean…"

"What?" Chris said pushing her back a little to look at her " What do you mean?"

"It's...complicated. I will explain...eventually, I guess…"

Claire face had turned pale and she shuddered. Was she remembering something about the past few months? What could have happened to her during that time that would bring such bitter look from her?

"Chris?"

Her voice had interrupted his thoughts. He looked at her and smiled.

"Yeah?" "Chris...there's something you must know. There's a virus…"

It was so much like Claire to worry about viruses and their imminent significance in the fate of the world after waking up in her sick bed.

"Virus? Yeah...There's always one..." Chris sighed.

"It is a new virus…"

It always was a new one; but for the first time in his life, he felt that he didn't want to think or worry about viruses and terrorists. His dead sister had just come back from her tomb, he was in no mood for bioterrorist crap.

"It's alright, Claire. We can talk about that later. You just woke and probably need a little more rest..."

"No…"

Chris was surprised by Claire's sudden seriousness. He knew that look well, it was the one she would get whenever she was about to drop bad news on him.

"No, Chris. You must know. The new virus...I...I have it."

The last bit had come out in such a soft whisper that he had -hoped- he'd heard wrong.

"What?"

"Chris…"

"Sorry… I think I heard wrong…"

" No, Chris. I am infected..."

Chris could feel his heart dropping to the ground when the words left her lips. Infected? Claire was infected with a new unknown virus. After six painful months thinking she was dead, he had found her alive just to find out she might be in a race against time from becoming one of monsters he'd bowed to destroy.

 _Fuck...why does life have to treat us this way?_

"What are you saying, Claire?" he whispered hoping that he really had heard wrong.

Claire looked him with a heartbroken, miserable and apologetic look.

"I am infected Chris. They infected me with the new strain…"

"No…" he could feel the fury starting to build up inside him "No...those bastards! Those fucking bastards! I'm going to kill them!"

He had jumped on his feet and was about to burst out of the room; but Claire had quickly grabbed his arm.

"No...wait….Chris, please…."she said in a rush "It's… I am not… I didn't mutate and look at me. I am still...me...barely, but I am more or less myself..."

"It doesn't make it any less bad, Claire. Those sons of bitch will pay…"

"Chris...you're missing my point…"

"Your point?"

"Chris...I've been infected by months...do you know what that means?"

Chris stared at his sister pondering her words and it suddenly dawned on him.

"You are immune…"

"I...don't think I am. There are some...irregularities, but...overall, I don't think the virus has changed me…"Claire had began to stroke her temple and mumble something he could quite understand. " I just need some time to think this over…"

"Are you alright? Is your head hurting?"

"It's nothing...I can take it…"

"I'm not eating that up. I'm calling Hiwamura…"

"Wait...Saya is here? Where am I?"

"Cardigan Bay. Hiwamura came along since _your_ condition required her specifically…"

He saw Claire's guilty look. He would need to have a word with her about all the little secrets she'd been keeping from her, but that'd have to wait. Chris pulled out his mobile and dialed Dr. Hiwamura. The doctor answered after the second tune and after listening to him for a few seconds she replied with a hasty " _I'm heading there…"_

Chris pushed the phone back into his pocket and looked back at his sister. She was sitting on the at the edge of the bed now staring at her scarred and bruised legs.

"And people ask why I avoid skirts, huh?" she mumbled "That's fine though. They're not exactly the best outfit when you need to run for your life anyway…"

Chris looked at her. The cuts and bruises on her legs were the remains of the injures she had when she'd been found. Wherever she'd been it certainly hadn't been paradise.

"Claire, can I ask you something?"

"I know what you're going to ask…" she sighed "some of my memories are still scrambled. I think I can remember most things compared to other occasions, but no… I don't know where I was. I have some flashes from places and events, but they're mostly random. I don't think I can't make much sense of them for now…"

"That's fine. We will find them one way or another…"

"Yeah...or they'll find us…" she sighed "Chris, I need a favor."

"Whatever you need…"

"Can you get me something to write in?"

THat was a strange request; but he, dug into his utility belt and took out a small notepad and pen and passed it to her.

"You keep this on your utility belt?" Claire asked with a frown "What do you use it for? Ninja origami stars when you ran out of grenades or kinfe-pen stabbing when you're out of ammo?"

Well, her sense of humor was definitely the same.

"Very funny…" he said faking offense. In reality he felt so happy to hear her teasing.

Claire tilted her head and smiled lightly.

"Thanks, Chris…" she said in a softer voice and then she began writing.


	27. Part II: Chapter 7

_Leon_

Leon had been slightly reluctant to leave and take his scheduled check in call with Hunnigan; but he knew he had to. They had exchanged a few words and she had delivered him some updates from his last mission (the one he had been suddenly pulled out from). He was glad to hear that Helena had managed to handle it without him and the delivery had gone smoothly.

"No terrorist attacks then?" Leon asked.

"No, it was...unsettling calm, actually." Hunningan replied through the line "Agent Harper didn't encounter any hostiles or B.O.W.s and the sample was delivered successfully to Dr. Chambers."

"That's good news. Let's hope she can make out some data from it…"

A few weeks ago they had received a tip from an anonymous source about a supposedly extremist group in Mexico having possession of a potential pandemic bioweapon. BSAA had, naturally, dispatched a full team to catch and retrieve the sample in small and modest operative. After the group's capture, BSAA. requested DSO assistance for transporting the sample to the Alexander Institute of Biotechnology in Chicago where the pathogen was supposed to be identified. Both Helena and him were assigned to the job until he was called back four days ago.

"Any news from what it is?"

"Dr. Chambers have begun the analysis of the sample, but for what I was informed, she hasn't been able to reproduce it and that seems to be difficulting the identification."

"BSAA doesn't usually take so long to identify those things…"

"Yes, I thought that so; but from agent Harper's last report, it seems that the task wasn't originally done by Dr. Chambers. It seems that the original team in charge of pathogen identification has been out for a while…"

"The original team?"

"Well, I don't even know if we can call it that. They were our main tipsters when it came to all the viral data we had..."

" This is is the first time I hear of this."

"It's more something between the higher ups. TO be honest, I've just heard rumors; but it seems the organization had some anonymous informers that provided data from the bioweapons. The data is later passed to us, operators so that it can be assigned to a field agent. No one really knows who they are, but it seems like they've been out of service for a while now. Many of us speculate the they're undercover allies in enemy lines or something like that."

"Huh.. and they had been out of service?""

"So it seems, I assume, since recently all the samples have been re routed to Dr. Chambers."

"Weird. "

"Dr. Chambers is doing what she can, but so far it seems that none of the things she's tried are working with this strain . The only secured data we have is that it is a viral agent."

"Like usual. Alright Hunnigan. Keep me updated."

"I will, Leon. I hope Ms. Redfield recovers soon…"

"Yeah. So do I...bye, Hunnigan."

He pressed the call button and pushed the phone back into his pocket. AS he turned around he found himself face to face with Dr. Hiwamura.

"That sounded like an interesting conversation. Was it about your last mission, agent Kennedy?"

"..."

"Don't worry. I was informed about that; has Dr. Chambers been able to identify the agent?"

"No...something about not being able to reproduce it…"

"Oh, yeah...that should be it. Dr. Chambers is bright woman, but there are things she can't do…"

"Oh? You mean could do better?"

"Me? Nah...I'm only a psychiatrist and a internist. I don't do well when it comes to virus identification or anything alike. I was talking about someone else…"

"And who might that someone be?" he asked interested. Perhaps they could get in touch with that person and have him help Rebecca.

"Well...we both know her. She's inside that room, no?"

Hiwamura walked past him and stopped in front of Claire's door.

"Are you coming, agent Kennedy?"

Leon frowned, but he walked to the door as the asian pushed the door open. They found Chris standing restlessly a few steps from the door and on the bed, currently preoccupied with writing something was…

"Claire…?"

The name escaped his lips immediately, making the red haired woman raise her look from her current work. Her cerulean eyes locked with his, and then she smiled lightly.

"So...Leon was around, too…" she said "It's been a while, Kennedy."

Leon was dumbfounded and speechless. He hadn't expected Claire to be awake and even less to be sitting and talking as if nothing had happened.

"You are looking peachy, Claire…" Hiwamura smiled crossing her arms and tilting her head slightly "It's good to have you back…"

"I've certainly been better, but yeah. The injuries have been taken care of. I supposed I should be thanking you and the viral genes in my genome, huh?"

"I just switched the meds they were originally giving you, the credit goes to your genes…"

"Right…"

"I just checked the last tests though, and there are still some red marks in there…"

"I bet there are. Don't mind those...it's just the new addition to my immunological library messing around with my physiology, but believe me...it could be worst…"

Leon frowned at her remark.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he said.

"Oh...you finally talk. For a second there I thought you were giving me the cold shoulder for being away this long…" she said teasingly " Guess you'll figure out sooner than later…"

"Claire is infected with a new virus…" Chri growled angrily "Those fucking assholes who kidnapped her did it…"

Leon's eyes widened. No, that couldn't be.

"Are you sure?" Leon asked concerned.

"It's my body….I think I can know that. Don't worry, I don't think I am turning into a cannibal zombified mutant anytime soon…" Claire replied.

"Claire that's no funny…" Chris groaned.

"Sorry. Either way, I am glad that you are here, Saya. I need a favor from you…."

"Oh, and what would that be?"

"Oh, it's easy...don't worry. "Claire sighed "Get me out of this hospital…."

"Claire I don't think…" Chris had began but his sister shook her head.

"I know you are worried Chris, but I'm doing no good lying here. I need to get back to home and work asap…"

"You must be kidding…" Leon blurted "You're not jumping straight into the fire when you have just returned…"

"And I agree with, Kennedy there…"

"I know both of you are worried; but the situation makes it urgent for me to be back…"

"No, Claire. I am not letting you out until I'm completely sure you're healed..." Chris said with an absolute tone.

Claire let out a mortified sigh.

"I am not jumping back into work if that's what you're worried about; I really need to go back …"

"Well, I am all ears to your explanation, bacuse I'm not letting you out unless that explanation is reasonable " the older Redfield said firmly and Leon definitely agreed.

Claire uttered as she exchanged a significant look with her japanese friend.

"You're the boss…." Hiwamura smiled raising her hands in defeat.

"Am I even still the boss...?"

"Technically, yes...you haven't' exactly been replaced…"

"What? Ah forget it, there's no time for this." she mumbled impatiently "since, I assume, the cat is already out of the bag. You probably already know about my situation with T virion, strain phobos…"

"Yeah, not because of your exceptional communicative tendencies, of course…" Chris said crossing his arms.

"Yeah...sorry about that…" she said rubbing her temple " well, I need to check if anything has changed in my status and that can only be done in certain laboratory back at home…"

"That's true. I already mentioned that a while ago…" Hiwamura corroborated her.

"And...there's a new virus in my system. A potentially dangerous virus that could be released at any time causing thousand of deaths. I might be a viable sample of the virus and if we can get to study it beforehand we might be able to find a way to minimize the consequences if an outbreak takes places…"

Leon didn't know if he should snort or complain. Claire's words made sense and, he had to admit it, were reasonable. They had never gotten a sample of a virus before and outbreak, after all. Most of the data they had was retrieved after the outbreak had originally taken place. However, he had to admit that he was slightly shocked about the calmness she showed despite being infected.

"I don't think I like what that's heading, Claire…" Chris said " You're asking me to let some crazy white coats start to fidget with your body? You know what they did to Jill and and that Birking girl…"

Leon knew that too. He, better than no one, knew all the crap Sherry had been put through the years as the researchers studied the latent form of the G-virus in her body. The girl hadn't been treated like an object, but she hadn't be treated humanely either; and the last thing he wanted was for Claire to be put through that, especially considering she had been in something similar the past 6 months.

"I wouldn't have to go through that; we…"

"Ehem…" Hiwamura coughed loudly "I'm afraid Mr. Redfield and agent Kennedy are not... _informed_ about that, yet…"

"Informed about what?" Chris demanded "What else am I missing?"

"Adam's didn't tell them?"

"Adams considered that it was better to let things calm down before we considered revealing the this information. So it was put on hold, we were hoping to find a someone to replace you, but you kind of set up a high standard. For the meantime, all new samples were passed to a new team in BSAA."

Leon had began to join the threads in his mind: the recent conversation with Hunnigan about the BSAA need to reassign the viral analysis to Dr. Chambers after to the circumstances of the original team and the anonymity of the group; the changes had taken place, according to Hunnigan, recently, coincidentally, around the same time of Claire's "death". Then there was Hiwamura's comment before they entered the room.

Claire had specialized in virology; she'd told him that in their last conversation eight months ago and she had also noted that she was usually stuck indoors more than doing field work those days; he'd just assume that it was due to her new position as chief…

"You're the tipster…" he said out loud and Chris had turned to him shocked " you are the one who was passing that research data from the viruses to both BSAA and the DSO…"

"You mean the anonymous info we kept receiving about the viruses?" Chris said with wide eyes "Claire?"

"Busted…" Claire sighed "It wasn't only me, though. It was my research team, actually; and before you say something more, Adams and Hopkins knew it. They were our main sponsors and pretty much the only people that knew about us. They kept the source anonymous in order to keep us safe…"

"And care to explain why was I left in the dark about this project of yours?"

"It was a consensual agreement with both Adams and Hopkins…" Hiwamura explained "We would help out with the research but our names would remain unknown; we were meant keep it secret even to close friends."

"You guys have enough troubles yourselves...letting you know about us would have put another stone on your shoulders." Claire explained.

Leon crossed his arms and sighed. He saw Chris let a frustrated sigh and began pacing restlessly around the room. Claire looked apologetically at them. He couldn't deny that he was annoyed about the amount of secrets that they were suddenly hearing about, but at the same time, it was just like her to keep things from them just to keep them safe.

Chris was taking his time to absorb the news. He still looked angry, but he seemed to be calming down a bit. Leon smirked remembering something that Claire had said some time ago.

 _Chris is pissed most of the time. You were so right, Claire._

"Okay, fine" Chris finally said.

Claire smiled.

""I knew you could be reasonable, Chris…"

"Don't think you are out of this… there are still a lot of things you still need to explain."

"Yeah...I do…"Claire sighed.

"So, is Claire really well enough to take the trip? It's a long way back to United States…" Leon asked.

"The life threatening ones are pretty much healed. The rest is up to to Claire's speed up healing to take care…"Hiwamura answered " I will take care of the paperwork…"

"Thanks, Saya…"

"I guess I should talk to Barry and Jill…" Chris said " Do you think I can leave her in your care, Leon?"

"Of course…"

"Okay. I'll be back soon Claire. DOn't do anything rash while I am out."

"I won't ...it's not like I can move around freely and Leon wouldn't let me anyway."

"Alright…" Chris said ; he rested his hand over his sister's head and messed up her auburn short locks.

"Seriously, Chris?" she glared at him trying to fix the messy locks back into place.

Chris snorted and walked out of the room followed by Hiwamura. Leon frowned as he watched Claire trying to fix her messed up hair, courtesy of her brother, but for some odd reason the hair strands kept popping up in all even realizing it, his hand was moving to her head helping her put the strands back into place.

Claire flinched at his touch and for a second he saw panic reflected in her face, but once she realized it was only him, the expression softened.

"Sorry...instinct…"

"My bad, kind of did it on impulse…" Leon replied shaking his head "Do you need something?"

"Not for now, I think I am as good as could be…"

Suddenly the light of the room flickered. Leon looked up, but he didn't miss the sudden look of horror in Claire's face. Her body was visibly tense.

"That's weird…" Leon said "It…"

Before he said anything else, the lights went off leaving them under the dim emergency red lights; almost instantly, he felt a tug in his arm. Claire had grabbed his arm and was holding on to it with a terrified look.

"Are you okay?"

"I don't…" she mumbled "I don't like it when it is dark."

Leon was surprised. He didn't remember Claire to be afraid of the dark. THey had gone through pretty bad dark places before and she had never showed fear of them.

"Don't worry, it is probably a blackout. The energy will come back soon…"

Claire had turned awfully pale. She held onto Leon's arm stronger and out of sudden, she let out a groan of pain as she covered her ear.

"Claire? What's wrong…?"

"Oh my god…" she crie out " they are here…."

"They? Who?"

"The _demons…"_


	28. Part II: Chapter 8

**New update. I hope you guys enjoy it. Somethings may be a little confusing, but bear with me. There's a reason for them.**

 **Don't forget to review if you like it.**

* * *

 _Claire_

The feelings that Claire was having at the moment were too complicated for her to even try to describe them with words. For a minute, she wondered if this wasn't one of those lucid dreams she had every once in a while when she felt a little more like herself and she could remmeber little bits of her life.

" _This time it is real"_ she thought " _I am not making it up."_

 _...but how long with it last?_

The little voice in her mind whispered and as much as Claire hated to admit it, the voice was more or less, right. She didn't know if her mind would get messed up again the next time she woke up or if she would wake up with no memories again.

She was grateful that Chris had a notepad and a pen in his utility belt . Why on earth would Chris have it was beyond her, but she couldn't help but make a teasing comment about it. It'd been centuries since the last time she done it.

"You keep this on your utility belt? What do you use it for? Ninja origami stars when you ran out of grenades or kinfe-pen stabbing when you're out of ammo?"

"Very funny…" he said with an offended glare that she knew too well to be fake.

Claire took the pieces of stationary and set them on her eating table and began writing. It had become a habit of hers during the past month in the asylum. She had kept a journal in which she wrote all the things she was afraid to forget when her mind decided to become a scrambled mess. That way, the next time she became a clear in her mind, all she had to do was reading her journal and catch up with the things she might have forgotten.

' _We are home….this is real. This Chris is real…'_ she wrote down in the notepad a couple times to emphasize it. She made sure to write every little thing she considered important; hoping that, perhaps, she wouldn't need it.

She was so busy writing that she didn't notice the door of the room opening and the two people that had just walked in.

"Claire?"

Upon hearing her name, she finally raised her head from the notepad and was greeted by a set of clear eyes staring at her shocked. Leon's dumbfounded expression had made her smile. When was the last time she'd seen that look in his face?

Their conversation went on smooth and naturally; and she found some comfort in the fact that they were exactly the way she remembered them to be. Sometimes she wasn't sure how much of what she remembered was real and how much was made up by her muddled up mind.

When Chris had jolted against her request to be returned home, she hadn't been that surprised; in fact, she had expected it and she knew he might have been right; but she had a bad feeling about this virus and what it might have done to her body. She couldn't rest at ease until she figured out what that thing was.

And then Leon had figured out about her little anonymous jobs with the BSAA and DSO; sometimes he was too smart for his own good. Naturally, Chris wasn't happy and neither was she when Hopkins and Adams had approached her three years ago. They had looked through her background, battle and academic wise and they had originally offered her a place in Rebecca's research team. Something she had immediately declined, the two men deserved a prize for perseverance, though. After some calls and negotiations, Claire had eventually agreed to help as their "support" team; however, only under her conditions: she would choose her team, work on her own place and they would be kept anonymous. The last thing she needed was getting unnecessary attention on herself or her colleagues.

That's how her little secret job had began. For the past 3 years, she and her little team had managed to profile many viral and non viral agents causing panic around the world, some that included variations of progenitor virus. The data they obtained was used as base to the development of antivirals, antibiotics and vaccines. Eventually, they had gained the name of "tipsters".

She had wanted to tell Chris and her friends all about it, but they had enough things to handle already. There was no need to put another stone on their backs if she could help it.

After a while, Chris had eventually agreed to her request and he and Saya had left prepare her eventaual departure. After months of in a strange place that held memories that she could barely recollect, she would finally return home.

" _Well, that went better than expected"_ she thought while she tried to fix the hair strands that his dear brother had, so kindly, messed up.

The strands were being rebellious and refusing to go back in place, one of the bad perks from her short hair. She tried to recall when or why she had the auburn locks cut, but the memories seemed to be somewhere lost in her mind. She was so focused on that little task that she didn't notice Leon's hand combing her hair softly.

His sudden touch made her flinch and an unwelcomed flashback hit her. She saw a tiled room smelling like disinfectant and a bright surgical lamp. Her arms had been tightly bound to a cold steel bed and she was feeling dizzy and lost. She could hear a unknown voice talking softly; a man, whose face was blurred, was caressing her head and then, she heard the drill…

Claire shook her head trying to push the memories away. She couldn't remember what happened then, but when she woke up - as herself- some days later, she realized her hair had been cut. She felt a shudder ran down her back and she looked at the blonde man. Leon was looking at her puzzled.

"Sorry…"she replied quickly seeing Leon's look "...bad memories…"

"My bad..." he apologised "...kind of did it on impulse. Do you need something?"

"Not for now, I think I am as good as could be…"

Suddenly the light in the room flickered and Claire felt her heart skip a beat. She looked at the ceiling and paled. She had a bad feeling in her gut; darkness always carried a bad omen. That was something she could still remember.

"That's weird…" Leon said "It…"

But she never got to know what it was because all the lights went off leaving them with only the dim light coming from the red glowing lamps from the corridor outside. Claire paled and for a few seconds, she was no longer sitting on a bed in a normal hospital, but trying to survive in the darkness of endless corridors haunted by monster. She automatically reached for Leon's arm and tried to find comfort in the solidity of it between her fingers. She wasn't alone...Leon was here and he was real; not a ghostly image made up by her desperate mind.

 _Don't let it get you...don't let it get you…_

Leon had noticed her tension and the blonde agent was looking at her in a expression that she guessed was concern and questioning.

"Are you okay?"

"I don't…" she mumbled "I don't like it when it is dark."

She could tell Leon was surprised. Of course he would be, Her "old" self hadn't been scared of the dark; but after all the horrors she had lived and seen in the darkness, she had learned to fear it with all her heart. She might not remember where she had been or what things she was done while in there, clearlu; but she remembered the tragedies that the shadows carried.

"Don't worry, it is probably a blackout. The energy will come back soon…"

She wanted to believe him, but she the bad feeling in her gut was growing and bubbling like boiling water. Maybe she was been a paranoid; perhaps Leon was right and this was just a normal blackout; but why she felt like it wasn't? She had had this sensation before.

 _You know it isn't just a black out...just listen…_

Claire froze. A high pitched hiss pierced through her ears making her shrink in pain as she covered her ears. She knew Leon wouldn't hear it; that sound was something only she could hear and she desperately hoped that she hadn't. It was an unwelcomed memory of grotesque fisgures lurking in the dark, preying and waiting to attack.

Panic began to built up inside her. She could sense her breathing becoming difficult and her mind turning foggy. She was losing herself again, falling into a ghostly memory that she couldn't remember well. She couldn't fall into it, she had to warn Leon before it was too late. She had to warn Chris...she had to warn them all; she couldn't let it take control…

 _We can do it..._

"Claire? What's wrong…?"

"Oh my god…" she crie out " they are here…."

"They? Who?"

Claire turned to Leon and with a trembling voice she answered.

"The _demons…"_

She felt herself starting to stifle. Her panic was preventing her from breathing properly and the lack of oxygen was making her head hazy. It wasn't the moment for her to lose her cool. Those things were close and she knew, for sure, that neither Leon nor Chris knew how to deal with them. She had survived to them before, never killed them, but survive. That was more than anything.

 _Don't let it take control….fight it…._

Suddenly, Claire felt someone grabbing her shoulders and shake her lightly. It was Leon, his voice crawled into her head making the fog disappear little by little.

"Claire….Claire...Listen to me. I need you to breath…"the voice sounded distant at first, but it was slowly growing stronger "Claire...come on, breath with me…."

Claire held onto his arm and did as he told her. Slowly, the fogginess vanished and she felt like herself again as the oxygen began to reach her brain. Her grip of Leon tightened.

"Leon...we need to go. They're here...close. It's dangerous...we need to leave…"

Leon was visibly confused by her words. SHe could tell even if the features of his face were hard to make under the red light.

"Claire, what are you talking about?"

"You need to believe me... _they_ are here…"

"Who are…?"

Leon's question was never finished. A loud crash followed by horrified screams echoed from somewhere near them. Leon was immediately on his feet in full agent mode with his handguns ready. Claire stared at the door horrified. It was too late, the monsters were already there. She should have known from the start, but perhaps her senses had gotten a bit clouded by the joy of being back with her family.

"Stay here…" he whispered "I'm going to check…"

"No…" Claire automatically said pulling from his arm "Don't… stay here with me..."

"It's fine…" Leon said trying to calm her "Just stay here, okay? I'll come back for you when I make sure it's safe"

Claire wanted to stop him, but Leon was already by the door before she could anything. The man stood in front of it and pulled it open slowly. His handgun was raised in front of him as he stepped through the door and checked both sides of the corridor.

Claire looked over his shoulder. The corridor was dark, but the emergency lights were on and she couldn't decide whether it was creepier that way or when it was totally dark. The red light made the corridor look as if was covered in blood and that made shudder.

Leon walked away a few steps and Claire held her breath as she saw him disappear behind the wall. She had the urge to run after him and drag him back into the room, but she held back.

" _No point on running after him. If those thing are around they'll just hear us…"_ she thought.

Claire shook her head and took a deep breath trying to calm her nerves. After a while, she suddenly heard something that chilled to her bones: a hollow breathing and a dragging sound that she had heard too many times before.

A part of her told her to run and hide, but Leon was out there, completely unaware of the monster that was slowly getting closer. She stepped into the corridor as silently as she could, something that wasn't too difficult considering she was well practiced on it. She caught on Leon's dark shape a few meters from her; he was examining his surroundings.

The dragging sound was getting closer and she could almost hear the creatures growls over her shoulder. Swallowing up her fears, Claire ran behind Leon hoping that she wasn't doing enough noise to caught the monsters attention. Leon was visibly shocked by her sudden arrival, but Claire grabbed his arm and covered his mouth before he could say something. She shook her head and signaled him to stay quiet. She then looked behind her; the creature wasn't visible yet, but she could tell that it was close by.

As long as they stayed quiet, they could easily stay in the corridor, but Leon didn't know these creatures and she wouldn't risk it. She looked around and found the reception desk a few steps from them; she signaled Leon and pulled him behind it and crouched . It was a nice hiding spot compared to the ones she was used to.

She could see Leon's questioning look under the dim red light, but she shook her head and signaled him to stay quiet. She would tell him later, once that talking wouldn't get them killed. Slowly, she peeked from over the table and she saw Leon imitating her.

She was greeted by an upleasant view: the creature had a humanoid form; its pale skin reflected the red lights of the corridor giving it a bloody look. It's back curved into a large hump and the long arms ended in black claws fell over its side; one of them carried, between it's long fingers, the remains of what Claire assumed was, at some point, an unfortunate nurse.

Like others from its kind, the creature had no face, only a wide mouth that divided its "face" vertically in the center. Inside it, there were two rows of sharp shark like teeth that could easily crush bone and tear flesh.

The creature raised its head and began tilting it from side to side. Claire knew that gesture, the monster was listening: trying to catch the sound of any possible prey in the vicinity. She saw Leon intending to pick up his gun, but Claire stopped him and shook her head. He was no ready for this fight and neither was her.

" _Go away….go away...there's nothing here for you. Just go away…."_

She chanted the words silently in her head. The monster suddenly let out a guttural roar that made her flinch. It dropped the body it'd been carrying and with an awful speed, it ran through the corridor and disappeared from view.

It had probably heard some poor victim's cries for help somewhere else. Claire felt a thug in her throat knowing that there was nothing she could do to save those people; she had learned that lesson that hardway. Slowly she crouched back behind the desk and sat down trembling on the floor as the sense of deja vú was making her lose her grip of reality and ghost voice began to scream in her head: " _Claire! Help me!" "RUN RUN RUN…." "Oh my, god….it's coming…."_

The voices weren't familiar, but at the same time, she knew she knew them. The words didn't make any sense either, and she figured they were probably fragments of different memories. She hadn't realized she was hugging her knees strongly until Leon had gently pushed her back and loosened her hands.

She looked at him and with a quick movement she wrote on Chris's notepad:

" _I'm sorry...we better avoid talking for now…"_

Leon read the words with a frown. He then picked out his phone and typed on it before showing her the screen.

" _You know that thing?"_

Claire bit her lip and nodded slowly. She then wrote again.

" _Kind of do. They are blind, but they are good tracking loud noises. We can avoid them aslong as we stay quiet…"_

Leon read her explanation with conflicted eyes, before writing down a reply.

" _New B.O.W , isn't it?"_

Claire nodded.

" _We need to warn Chris…."_

Leon nodded. He then began typing in the phone once more and after a few minutes, he showed Claire the screen again. It was a message from Chris.

 _REDFIELD: Damn B.O.W.s , thanks for telling us. We'll figure a way to take them down without making too much noise if that makes any sense._

 _Take care of Claire. If anything happens to her, you can kiss that pretty face goodbye._

Claire couldn't help but smile. She gesture Leon to see if she could use the phone and Leon passed it to her. It'd been long since she had touched a thing like this, but she began to write as fast as she could.

 _Chris, this is Claire. I am using Leon's phone. Try to avoid conflict if you can. As long as you stay quiet, they can't find you. They are photosensitive; there are only few hours left before the sunrise. If we can lure them out when the sun is out, they are done._

 _Stay Safe, Brother. Don't go playing the hero. You're not ready for this fight yet._

Claire hit the send button and returned the phone to his owner. Leon immediately wrote her a message.

" _We can't stay. We need to move out…"_

And she could agree more.

" _Rooftop. If we can stay there until the sun rises. We'll be ok; but we need to be sneaky. I don't know how many of them are here."_

Leon nodded.

" _We are close to the rooftop. We can make it."_

Claire nodded. She stood up looking around the place. It was deserted and messy. The remains of the nurse laid on the ground in a bloody mass. The duo made their way out from their hiding spot and began walking down the hallway. Claire was on her toes, not only because of the creatures that she knew where lurking in the building, but because the darkness. Each step she gave took a lot of effort and sometimes she had close her eyes, because she could feel something stalking her from the murkiness. She had memories of dark endless corridors made of damp and cold stone; they stunk of blood and death. Some things she couldn't remember, but the fear, the horror and all those unpleasant feelings she had in that place were deeply carved in her.

Suddenly she felt a thug on her hand and she opened her eyes. Leon was staring at her. He had grabbed her hand and held it firmly in a comforting way. She didn't know how, but Leon had seen her uneasyness. Claire felt him squeeze her hand as he nudged his head pointing ahead and she nodded.

At least, this time, she wasn't alone anymore.


	29. Part II: Chapter 9

_Chris_

Suddenly everything seemed to fall down and hell semmed to break loose; at first they all thought it'd been a simple blackout: an electricity shortage that would sure pass after a few minutes, but then, the call had come. Terra Save Medical Center was under a supposedly bioterrorist attack and BSAA was currently in a midst of chaos. The equipment had gone offline when the energy was cut down, but as soon as the generator had kicked in and the power was back everyone jumped in to work; the problem was that something had happened to all the equipment during the black out and most of them wer unresponsive.

HQ had lost the signal from the BSAA agents on duty in MedCenter after they had reported the events, and Chris had the horrible feeling that they were most probably no longer alive.

"We can't run in there with guns blazing and our lives in the line, Chris…" Jill had said when the man had intended to run straight into Med Center as soon as the alert had been set "We need to plan this out. We have no idea of what is in there, Chris. What if it is one of the creatures we saw when Claire was kidnapped?"

Chris hated when Jill was right; but he couldn't just sit there doing nothing while his recently recovered sister was trapped inside of a building filled with god knew what sort of creatures.

"The attack was release specifically inside the Med Center . There was no detonation and no suspicious movements. It was definitely premeditated…"

Jill was right. Bioterrorists liked to cause panic; if that was the case, why hadn't they attack the town and instead focused the attack in one small MedCare center? The answer was so obvious that he couldn't understand why he hadn't caught the hint earlier.

"Claire…" he said.

"Yeah, I know you're worried, Chris, but…" Jill said shaking her head.

"NO. I mean Claire. They attacked the center because Claire _was_ there…"

Jill's eyes widened in realization.

"Oh, my god...that means…"

"Yeah, either they're trying to silence her before she speaks too much, or they are trying to retrieve her and none of the options are much of my liking…"

"Those fucking bastards don't know when to give up, do they?" Barry growled angrily.

"We should try to contact, Leon…" Jill suggested "We need to let him know what's going on…"

Chris was about to reply when the buzzing of his phone interrupted him. A new message from Leon. That was odd, the man rarely sent him messages, usually he'd just called.

"Speak of the devil…" Chris said opening the message he had just received from Leon.

 _KENNEDY:_

 _Chris, the MedCenter is under attack. B.O.W.s from the new strain. Claire says they are blind, but are sensible too noises, so as long as we stay quiet we should be able to avoid them. She seems to know what she's talking about…_

Claire knew the creatures? How was that possible?

 _Don't worry about Claire. I will make sure to keep her safe this time; but she's worried about you. So don't do anything harsh._

Harsh? Of course he wouldn't do anything harsh. All he wanted to do was blow up some B.O.W guts and kick some terrorist's asses. In his opinion, that wasn't rash thinking, it was totally reasonable. Chris quickly typed back a reply and hit the send button.

"Leon says Claire knows the B.O.W. According to her, they are blind, but with sharp ears, so as long as they are quiet, they're safe."

"And how does Claire know that?" Barry asked shocked.

"We can ask her that when we have her back." Jill said waving her hand "The question now is what are we going to do to get them out?"

"Well I…"

Once again, Chris was interrupted by his phone; and seeing Leon's address once more he couldn't help but wonder what was making the agent so chatty today; but as soon as he opened the message, he couldn't help but smile.

"Okay, Chris has finally lost it. Is he smiling at an email from Kennedy?" Barry snorted.

"No, Leon's. Claire's…" he replied "Claire's says we should refrain from attacking until the sun is out. "

"The sun?"

"She says the B.O.W is photosensitive, ring a bell?"

"Of course, we drag them out to the sun and...deep fry B.O.W for you." Barry said with a smirk "That girl sure is smart…"

"Yeah… the brain of the family"

"But it makes me wonder…" Jill said rubbing her chin "does this mean it isn't the first time she's faced these creatures?"

Chris was considering Jill's words and he could imagine what was going through the her mind. Had Claire fought this creatures while she was kept captive? Suddenly, the trio was interrupted by the door flipping open. A young BSAA member stood at the door frame panting and clearly agitated.

"Captain Redfield, sir. Ms. Valentine and Mr. Burton!"

"Yeah, skip the honorifics, kid...what's going on?" Barry replied impatiently.

"...The terrorist group, sir. They had sent a message. They hacked into our system."

"They what?"

Chris stomped to the nearest monitor and turned it on. Instead of the regular BSAA issued homescreen, the screen was completely white except for the figure in the center of the screen. It was some sort of ring that twisted itself forming some sort of loop.

"What the hell…"

As if answering his question, a distorted voice began speaking.

 _"Oh, what fear man's bosom rendeth,_

 _When from heaven the Judge descendeth,_

 _On whose sentence all dependeth_ …(1)

"What the...?"

"Afraid aren't you Mr. Redfield?"

"Who the fuck are you?"

"Now, now...let's not be rude. Here I came to check if your sister had liked our little present…"

"So you send those things to the MedCenter…!"

"Small thing, indeed. Just a little token of appreciation for Ms. Redfield; to let her know how much we miss here and how much we want her _back_."

"You are not touching another hair from my sister, fucking bastard…"

"Oh, that's a pity. She has a beautiful hair after all...crimson, just like blood…"

"You sick…"

"Who are you?"Jill interrupted knowing that the person behind that voice was trying to taunt Chris "What do you want?"

"Isn't that obvious? We have the power to create a better world; one in which viruses, parasites and pathogens won't be a threat anymore… we are the saviours of man kind..."

"What?"

"What we are creating is a cure...something that will put and end to all those bioengineered pathogens that had killed and destroyed so much. We will purge all those impurities and create a new life... a paradise for those who deserves it."

"Yeah, right. By creating your own monsters?"

" _Exitus acta probat…."_ the voice replied "All good things require sacrifices. In order to create something sometimes you need to get rid of the unworthy."

"This is crazy. What you're doing is not different from terrorism!" Jill snapped at the screen.

"Oh, but it is. We are no terrorists, we are saviors. It's survival of fittest: Natural Selection. We are creating a better world by taking out the trash…"

"That's so sick…" Chris snapped "Who the hell are you?"

"My...my...but how rude of me. I haven't introduced us. We...are Mobius."

There was cold silent pause. Chris had never heard about this group and he turned to his companions to see if they had any idea of what they were talking about. Both Jill and Barry were as dumbfounded as him.

"You were the ones who kidnapped, Claire 8 months ago?" Chris demanded to know "Why?"

"Ah, Ms. Redfield...yes, we needed her. She's quite a special person you see? So smart, so brilliant and strong. We were not sure if it'd work at first, but she was beyond our expectations..."

"What did you do to her?"

"We turned her into an _angel_ , what else?"

"Into a what?" Barry growled.

"She's one of a selected few...a wonderful specimen with so much to offer. Her adaptation capacity proved to be astonishing."

"Just what the fuck did you do to my sister?"

"THat, I am afraid, is a secret, Mr. Redfield."

"Secret my ass...tell me what you did to her..."

"She's a survivor...what we did just made her better. That's all I will tell you and tonight we will see how much she's improved."

"I am going to find you, bastards and I will tear you into pieces..." Chris growled angrily.

"Oh we will see that, Mr. Redfield...until then. Please, do tell Ms. Redfield, if she survives, that we miss her and that we will be waiting for her return…"

Before Chris could retort to that, the screen went black and then it turned back to the original BSAA themed screen. Chris punched the table with his fist. He'd die first before he let those crazy people have a hold of his sister ever again.

"Jesus...and I thought we had seen enough crazy people" Barry groaned.

"Saviours. They think they're making a better world by creating those monsters? I've never heard anything as crazy as that..."

"Well, he said it. The survival of the fittest. Get rid of all that people and keep those who can survive against those damn monsters. We gotta do something and fast..."

"I'll prepare a chopper. Whatever they are they 're just like any other crazy group we have handled before..." Jill said pulling out her readio "We need to hurry..."

"Ah, will this ever stop? It's one group of lunatics after another... This is just another group of foolish mad scientists..."

"Yeah. and this one is after, Claire."

And he 'd be doomed if he let them have it.

* * *

 **A little more data for the story.**

 **Some quick notes:**

 **(1) this a piece of stanza that comes from the song/poem Dies Irae, which basically talks about doomsday (in some way) you might also notice that it is the tittle of the fic.**

 **Second, yeah. The terrorist group is named Mobius for two reasons, one will be explained eventually as the story progresses and second one is- yeah you got it -in honor of The Evil Within which partially inspired some things in this story.**


	30. Part II: Chapter 10

Hey there, here's another update. I hope you enjoy it!

* * *

 _Leon_

The corridor was deadly quiet; it was an absence of sound that gave Leon and horrible sense of deja vú. Leon walked through the corridor with his handgun raised and his senses on alert. The place was completely made a mess: tables overturned, papers scattered on the floor, broken chairs ... it was an image to which Leon had already become accustomed to. There was no sign of other people in the vicinity; the medical center could not be compared to a large-scale hospital, since it was reserved for cases related to the BSAA and Terra Save, so the amount of people in the building were much less than in a conventional hospital.

Suddenly, Leon felt something grab his arm and instinctively his body reacted with the intention of responding to the attacker, however, as turned around, the man felt grateful that his reaction had not been as immediate as he had intended, because when he turned around he found himself face to face with a very agitated Claire.

Leon opened his mouth to ask what had happened, but before the man could articulate a word; Claire's pale hand covered her mouth, while her free hand brought a finger to her lips motioning him to keep quiet. Leon noticed that Claire was looking back with a look that could only be described as a prey trying to escape from its hunter and the agent looked over her shoulder, but all he saw was the dark and desolate corridor he had just walked through. HE couldn't stop himself from wondering what had Claire so nervous.

Claire looked at him and pointed at reception desk on the right side of the room. It was a circular table that originally was orderly and impeccable, but at that time it was a mess. Leon did not need words to understand the message Claire was sending him, and the man followed her behind it; both crouched behind the desk and Leon looked at the woman questiongly.

Claire looked at him with concern and horror. Her cerulean eyes connected with his and Leon saw that she was pointing to the other side of the table that hid them. Slowly and silently, both peered over the table.

What he saw, then, made his stomach squirm in disgust. A creature was standing on the spot they'd been just a couple minutes ago; the creature had a humanoid form with a pale skin that almost seemed to glow in the darkness. It had a large hump on its back and unnaturally long arms; he noticed that one of those arms was dragging the lifeless body that had been once - judging by the uniform- a medical staff member,.

Leon had never seen anything like it in all his years of experience with monsters; the creature had no face, only a wide mouth that parted its "face" vertically in the center and it breathed noisily as the air passed through double line of sharp yellowed teeth.

The creature raised its head and began tilting it from side to side. Leon's hand had automatically traveled to his handgun, but Claire stopped him. Her hand grabbed his with some desperation that made Leon look at her concerned, but Claire only shook her head and motioned him to stay silent again.

The monster suddenly let out a guttural roar that made both them jump. The creature threw its prey aside and the body hit the wall making an unpleasant sound; before Leon could even absorb what had just happened, the monster had disappeared down the adjacent corridor at an inhuman speed.

Leon's heart was beating fast. He let himself sit in the safety of their hiding spot and looked at Claire. The woman was curled against the desk with her arms hugging her knees with such strength that her knuckles were turning white. He noticed her trembling under the dim light and he automatically grabbed her hands, trying to get her to relax. Claire looked at him and he could sense the gratitude flowing from her. With a quick movement, Claire began wroting on Chris's notepad. For some resason, she had bothered to bring the thing along.

" _I'm sorry...we better avoid talking for now…" he read under the dim reddish light._

Avoid talking; that was the reason she had brought the thing with her. So that she could speak to him without talking. Understanding her point, he took his phone and quickly typed a reply.

" _You know that thing?"_

Claire bit her lip and nodded slowly. He wondered if the question had been a little too blunt, but she was already writing again.

" _Kind of do. They are blind, but they are good tracking loud noises. We can avoid them as long as we stay quiet…"_

So that's why she had begged him to stay quiet. If he had made that shot, the creature would have found them. Claire had saved him from a nasty fight. The situation was sure going to be hard with their communication restricted.

" _New B.O.W , isn't it?"_

Claire nodded.

" _We need to warn Chris…."_

Leon nodded. Telling the older Redfield was an urgent matter, other wise, it'd be a matter of time before the BSAA came in blasting doors and shooting their machine guns as they usually did and if what Claire told him about that monster was right, that would be like painting a target spot on themselves. Leon typed a quick message to Chris and later one to Hunnigan as well. Chris reply came almost immediately and he showed Claire the screen after reading it. Claire had smiled at her brothers words, and Leon couldn't help but wonder when had been the last time he had seen her smile like that; it wasn't her sarcastic smile, nor the teasing one he was used to, but one innocent and caring. She gestured Leon in a way that he knew she was asking if she could borrow his phone and Leon passed it to her knowing that Chris would appreciate a reply from her rather than his.

Claire took her time to write down the message and the blonde agent used the spare minutes alternating between watching her and looking around for any other enemies. When she finally gave him the phone back, he immediately wrote her a message.

" _We can't stay. We need to move out…"_

He saw the agreement in her look.

" _Rooftop. If we can stay there until the sun rises. We'll be ok; but we need to be sneaky. I don't know how many of them are here."_

Leon nodded refraining himself from smiling. Claire's quick thinking never stopped to surprise him.

" _We are close to the rooftop. We can make it."_ he wrote back.

And he saw the woman nod. The plan sure sounded a lot easier than done. Leon wasn't exactly familiar with the layout of the building, and even though it was small, there were many corridors and dead ends that could easily detour them. The emergency lights prevented them from seeing the bloody mess that the place had surely become, but he knew the darkness was making Claire upset. He could see her hesitated with each step and the tension of her body as she followed him closely.

 _She is scared._ He thought and he wondered what kind of horrors she'd gone through for her to be terrified of the darkness like this. Claire was the woman who could walk through a zombie filled city at the veil of the night; break through underground laboratories chased by monsters and make her way through a foreign island with nothing but walking corpses.

Claire was human, he knew that, and it was normal for humans to be scared. He was scared all the time, after all. Unconsciously, his hand had grabbed Claire's and squeezed it with reassurance. In other situation, the woman would have complained and given him a teasing comment about how his little charming gentleman manners had no effect on her and tell him he should save them for more impressionable ladies instead, but this time it was different. Claire said nothing, nor did she tried to release herself. She stood there looking at his hand, almost as if she wasn't sure it was real, which made him hold it firmer.

And so, they walked through the death filled corridors in silence and holding hands like a fugitive couple trying elope.

They crossed paths with another of those monsters when they had taken a wrong turn; but just as Claire had predicted, the thing didn't even noticed them flattened against the wall, as it passed by. They were lucky enough to find the center's layout on one of the walls, but they soon realized that many of the corridors were already blocked.

So far, they had not met any survivors on their way to the rooftop; and as much as Leon hated to think it, they were probably the only ones left alive; and he realized that, if Claire hadn't been with him, he too might have been dead already.

There was suddenly a ruffling sound and he sensed Claire flinch under his grip. At first he thought it was another of those things,but then he heard growls; familiar growls. He looked around and quickly pushed the woman into one of the empty rooms and waited.

 _Oh, great...zombies._

Leon looked around concerned. Avoiding the "Silence Monsters" had been easy so far, but now that the undead had joined the equation, things would get complicated. He was pondering what options he had to fight them without making too much noise when he felt Claire tugging his arm.

" _Let's wait. They will handle them for us; you'll see…"_

Leon hesitated, but Claire squeezed his hand and looked outside. The group of zombies were moving erratically around the corridor; they were getting dangerously close and his automatically rested on his handgun; but as Claire had told him, it hadn't been necessary; three of the faceless monsters had appeared in a blink and, in a matter of seconds, they had cleanly wiped out every zombie.

It hadn't been a nice picture. It wasn't exactly the first time Leon saw B.O.W.s eating each other; he had seen them eight months ago when he had been dragged all the way to Germany with Claire, after all; but at the time, it hadn't looked so….disgusting.

Claire pulled his hand slightly. She nudged her head at the corridor and he nodded. Slow and quietly, the duo sneaked out of the room and walked past the eating creatures and walked down the hallway.

It took them a few minutes- that felt like hours- to reach the emergency stairs. The crosspaths with some zombies in the way, but Leon had been fast enough to stealth kill them before they did enough noise to attract unwanted attention. He had seen Claire wanting to help, but she had hesitated and by the look on her face she had seemed conflicted.

It took another few minutes for them to finally reach the door that would led them straight to the breathed in relief, but as soon as Leon's hand had pushed the door open, hell broke loose.

The alarm began ringing loudly.

Claire looked at him, the panic evident in her eyes and her face pale as chalk.

"Shit!" he groaned forgetting about staying quiet and grabbing his gun "Run, Claire...RUN!"


	31. Part II: Chapter 11

Here's another chapter. Thank you to all who reviewed.

Please leave me your comments and enjoy this update!

* * *

 _ **Claire**_

The sound of the alarm pierced Claire's ears painfully. The sound was much louder than normal, but Claire was too busy thinking about the mess they were in now to pay attention to her apparent sharpened sense of hearing. So far, the duo had managed to go unnoticed by the monsters, but the alarm had thrown overboard all the secrecy and care they had had. Why the hell was there an alarm on the roof door?

"Shit! " Leon cursed "Run, Claire...RUN!"

The pair climbed the set of stairs shoulder to shoulder. The climb felt endless, but Claire was aware that the creatures had already noticed her presence. Mechanically and without even realizing what she was doing, the woman began to sense her surroundings looking for their hunters until she heard the grunts and the heavy breathing that horrified her so much. Claire was not sure how far they were, but she had no intention of waiting to find out. She saw that Leon had pulled out his handgun, but she already knew the bullets would do no harm unless he could hit them in the only vulnerable spot located inside their mouths and that would be hard, even for an expert shooter as him.

" _Think, Claire, think… you need to come out with something to help Leon..."_

 _You've done this before...you can beat them. Remember...what's their weakness…_

" _What's their weakness….what's their weakness...think…"_

Claire's inner monologue kept going. She had fought them before, and she had managed to escape alive; but how? What had she done? She couldn't remember…

Leon was running right beside her and she could hear the creatures running not to far behind. They reached the door to the roof. It was locked, but Leon shot the door knob and kicked it down. The roofs were usually used to hang the drying bed sheets from the laundry, but today there were none. The sky was still dark and in other conditions, Claire would have appreciated the fresh air.

The creatures had finally caught with them. The triplet jumped through the doorway and landed on the ground growling as their nasty mouths kept opening and closing as if they were tasting the air. Claire knew they were trying to track them; the monsters were aware of their presence, but they had no idea where they were.

She quickly grabbed Leon's hand and pulled him behind one of the nearest ventilation towers. Claire had quickly put her finger on her lips warning Leon and she was glad that the man had understood the situation inmediately.

 _Think about it...how did you defeated it before?_

A painful flashback hit her head. She was running down a dark corridor chased by the same creatures; she was running out of breath, but the adrenaline kept her moving until she reached a dead end. She made a quick turn and hid behind a small piece of furniture holding her breath. The creature was by her side now, listening and trying to find her. Claire looked around in panic and noticed the darkened window at the end of the corridor, silently, she picked a small base from the table and threw it with all her strenght through the window. The noise caught the monster's attention and it jumped after the base through the window. It was sunny outside and the creature groaned in pain as the sun burned down its flesh...

" _Sunlight!"_

Claire looked at Leon's wristwatch and it read 06:58. Chris had said they were in Wales and she had been gone for what? 8 months? It meant that they should be in November; if she was right, at this side of the world the sunrise should be around 7 am. If they could stay alive for 2 more minutes...the sun would take care of those things…

But , like always, things never worked the way she wanted. One of creatures was standing right over them with its head bent between Leon's and her face. She could feel the fetid metallic breath blowing at her and both Leon and Claire were paralyzed to the point that they were holding their breath. Claire scanned her surroundings trying to find something she could use to take them out of this mess, but there was nothing, not even a stone.

 _Chris might help…_

" _Chris?"_ she thought wondering what her inner voice was trying to tell her and then it hit her. The pen, the one she had teased Chris about.

She took the little object and with a fast and silent movement, threw it with all her strength; the thing flew over to the other edge of the roof. The little object crashed against the metallic fence with a loud shriek that immediately caught the monsters' attention. The three things jumped over the fence as the first rays of sunlight fell over them. The result was exactly as Claire had seen in her memory, the light began to burn the creatures as it touched the pale skin.

 _This is it...the armor is gone..._

"Leon, now. Shoot them!"

"I thought you'll never tell me!"

Leon pulled out his handguns and began shooting at the monsters. The bullets penetrated the flesh sending pieces of muscle, skin and blood in all directions as the creatures cried , a second wave of shots resonated like an echo of Leon's. Claire looked around for the source of the shots and was greeted by the loud roar of a helicopter's propeller.

"Sorry for making you wait!" Chris shouted from over the banging of his machine gun.

"Having fun on your own, Kennedy?" Jill greeted him "Care if we join?"

"Be my guest…" Leon smirked.

Claire watched the creatures die quickly under the rain of bullets that lashed them. Without even realizing it, her back slid against the wall of the ventilation tower until she finally fell on the floor. Her legs no longer able to sustain her weight as the adrenaline began to fade.

 _And ashes they become..._

As soon as the last creature had stopped moving and his body began to burn as he just finished lighting the place; Chris and the others jumped from the helicopter to the roof. The elder Redfield rushed towards his sister and grabbed her shoulders looking for injuries.

"You _always_ take your damn time. One of these days I will run out of patience..." she said softly; her voice completely mismatching the words. She immediately saw Chris smile.

"Sorry, again..."he replied and then, he hugged her.

His grip was strong and filled with a full combo of emotions that went from fear and anger to relief and happiness. Claire knew Chris's worried hugs. She had received so many of them in the course of her life and she was totally comforted by the fact that they were as nice as she remembered them.

"Chris...you're squishing me…"

The man let go of her and looked at her concerned.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"I am fine. I really I'm other wise your bear hug would have killed me..." she smiled "You know..this wasn't exactly the way I pictured watching a sunrise in Wales…"

"You'll get your chance. Come...let's get you out of here. BSAA is about to launch a operative in the building…"

"They won't find much." Leon said " those three were the only large B.O.W's in the place and they pretty much took care of any moving thing down there Alive or dead..."

"We must check anyway…" Chris said shaking his head" Just in case. How are you, Kennedy? Any injuries?"

"I'm fine. As usual...your sister saved my ass."

Jill approached them with a small blanket in her hands. The woman wrapped it around Claire's shoulders and suddenly the young Redfield noticed the cold that was brushing her skin. It was late autumn in Wales and the winds were icy; unlike the rest of her friends, Claire was only wearing a thin hospital gown.

"Thanks, Jill…"

"No need to thank me…" the blonde woman smiled "We are happy to have you back and safe…"

"But you still need fat over those bones…" Barry snorted from behind of Jill " So I suggest we get our asses out of here and let the children take care of the clean up. How about we get you that breakfast we never had, little Red?"

Claire chuckled. How she had missed this.

"I'd like that…"

Chris put an arm around her shoulders and they headed to the chopper; but Claire made a sudden stop and under everyone's questioning look, the woman walked to the spot where the three monsters laid now as a pile of scorched meat, and bowed to pick the small black pen from the ground. The woman looked at it and smiled as she walked back to the awaiting group.

"What's that?" Barry asked curiously.

"This? Well...let's say I apologise for teasing you about the pen stabbing thing, Chris…" she said "It seems that your pen is actually a life saving thing after all…"she added showing them the small the small office item in her hand.

"Well, at first look everything seems in place." Saya said passing Claire some clean clothes "No new injuries, at least…"

Claire happiness when she had arrived to BSAA base and found Saya standing at the heliport waiting for them was immense. The woman had gone to BSAA with Chris to discuss the conditions of Claire's transport back to North America, so the woman hadn't been in the medical center when the attack had taken place.

"Is your head still hurting?"

"No, at least not now." Claire replied as she got dressed behind the curtain. The clothes she had been given were pretty plain, but comfy enough and much more practical compared to the white hospital gown she'd been wearing before. She had never favoured flashy looks, anyway.

She buttoned up her white shirt which she guessed was most likely Saya's and put on the black pants that she assumed where Jill's. Perhaps the clothes would have fitted her better some time ago, but with her current state of undernourishment, both pieces were a little too loose. She came out from behind the curtain brushing her hair with her fingers and found the asian woman grinning.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing. It's just that you look more like yourself now; but maybe Burton is right...you do need a little more fat..." she replied shaking her head "Here, little present from BSAA. It's pretty cold out there after all…"

Saya handled her one of the organization's issued jackets and Claire quickly put it on and was relieved that it fitted well.

"Great, I was worried that I'd have to use one of Chris's."

"Oh, please...I am a good friend. Do you really think I would allow you to fall so down as to wear your brother's oversized jacket? Maybe I'd accept Kennedy's, but not your brothers…"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Heh, nothing…"

"Anyway. Did you call the team? I expect to start with testing as soon as we get back home."

"Ease down, workaholic…" Sayo replied rolling her eyes "I already called them. I think Wallace dropped dead at the news, but Irina was kind enough to take the rest of the call. They'll set up everything..."

"Great. As sooner we figure out what's wrong with me, the better..."

"Enough about work, young lady. Breakfast time." Saya pushed her out of the room and smiled "You need some time with your friends and family, for a change...and one good meaty european breakfast. I think you deserve it after all the crap you've gone through…"

"That's the doctor talking?"

"No, that's your friend talking. Come on. I am hungry, too."

Claire shook her and followed the asian doctor out of the room. It was nice to have some normalcy after all the things she had gone through the past months. She looked at the busy courtyard filled with BSAA members running under the sunny wesh sky; the smell of sea and salty air filled her lungs.

"You look like you had an epiphany…" Saya teased.

"Not quite…" Claire replied "I'm just...my memories of the past months feel...weird, but I know I haven't had fresh air in a while..."

"About that…" Saya said softly "Don't push it. I already told your brother that they shouldn't force the details out of you…"

"I know Chris is dying to interrogate me…" Claire said quietly "but even if he did, I can't actually remember. All I have are pieces of events and ghost sensations; the things are in my head, but I can't really make sense of them anyway."

"You were heavily drugged, Claire. It's not rare that would happen."

Claire didn't answer. She suddenly smiled as she saw the group of people walking to them.

"Nice to see the clothes suited you, Claire." Jill smiled.

"Yeah, thank you, Jill."

"How are you feeling?" Chris asked.

"Never better...relatively speaking. I am fine, Chris. You really don't need to get so overprotective over me…"

"Oh, I think I get the right to get overprotective after all the crap that's happened, Claire."

"Yeah, sorry about that. I guess I've been hanging out with the wrong guys…" she sighed.

"There are a lot of things to discuss…" Chris said sternly "But, first things first...breakfast."

"That sounds nice…" Claire nodded "Where's Leon?"

"Oh, he'll catch up with us later." Chris answered waving his hand "He's talking to his boss about a new assignment."

"Oh…"

A sudden pinch of disappointment hit her gut, but she quickly chastised herself. Leon was a busy government agent. She couldn't expect him to put his work on hold just because she had decided to pop out from her grave; but for some odd reason, she wished she had had a little more time with him.

" _Why am I even thinking like this?"_ she thought.

"All right…" Barry said cheerfully "How about some toast and bacon, Claire?"

Claire smiled. For today, she wouldn't think of anything more than spending some time with her family. That was all she wanted.


	32. Part II: Chapter 12

THank you to the kind people who left me your comments on the last chapter. Your nice words mean a lot. I wish I could reply to all the guest viewers, but anyway... if any of you ever feel the wish to contact me directly. You can find me on twitter (link in profile).

Please enjoy this chap

* * *

 _Jill_

Claire had left about 10 minutes ago accompanied by Dr. Hiwamura who had insisted on perfoming a complete revision to be safe. On the other hand, Claire had been quite explicit with her desire to take a bath and change into a decent outfit, as the woman evidently did not feel comfortable in her hospital gown.

Chris and company had been especially careful that no one knew of Claire's presence at the BSAA base. It was sad to say, but all those who might have recognized her had died in last night's attack and considering that Mobius had clearly expressed his intention to recapture Claire, the elder of the Redfield had decided that he wanted to keep the attention as far awayfrom her as possible.

As soon as Claire had left the room, all present adopted expressions of gravity and asked Leon to give his report of what happened. Leon was precise as he explained the details of the events that had transpired inside the MedCenter the night before. The group listened silently as the blond told them how Claire seemed to understand the creatures patterns and how she had prevented him from using their "usual" methods to fight them. He noted that Claire had led him to rely more into stealth, avoidance and patience, rahter than taking the offensive as they would usually do.

"I don't know for sure what those things were, but they certainly have resemblance to the things we encountered eight months ago in Germany." Leon said crossing his arms with a bitter look.

Jill did not need to be a telepath to know why the agent had made that expression. None of them had good memories about that night and the fact of having Claire back, did not change it.

"At the time, neither Claire or I knew what we were facing; but firearms were certainly not enough to cause significant damage. I can only assume that the situation wouldn't have been different this time and that's precisely why Claire stopped me before I tried to shoot the thing."

"But the thing died when we shot it, though…" Barry observed.

"Yeah, but Claire only told me to shoot when the sun had began to harm their flesh. So...I think that in regular conditions of no light, bullets might not be effective. Claire had known that if I used firearms I'd just attract their attention."

"So, you are suggesting that Claire knew about it from experience?"

"Honestly, I don't want to imagine Claire fighting one of those things alone, but due to the circumstances, I can't discard that probability…" Lein said shaking his head.

"Well, Claire is certainly is in one piece, so we know who won that fight." Barry reasoned "And under that reasoning, she might have pulled something similar to what she did this time…"

"Using the sunlight on her favor you mean?" Jill said thoughtful.

Barry was right. Whatever problem Claire had fallen into, she had managed to pull through it somehow. Maybe it was something in the Redfield genes.

"Claire is smart and capable, so I wouldn't be surprised. However, I did notice something…"

"What?"

"She has terrible fear of darkness."

"Darkness? Well, that makes no sense. Claire has been crawling through dark tunnels, streets and god now what else for a while now. Even if she had such a phobia wouldn't it be overcome already?" Barry asked.

"Claire never feared the dark. Not even when she was younger, the only thing I know she fears with all her soul are spiders." Chris said with a frown "Are you sure she was afraid?"

"Positive…" Leon nodded "I had to stopped her from getting a panic attack when the blackout happened, and then I saw her hesitate to move when were making our way to the roof thorugh the darker corridors. I don't know the cause, but she certainly fears the darkness..."

"..." Chris was speechless; but Jill knew the man well enough to see that he was containing his anger.

"Fears are things that can be learned…" Jill whispered. She did not want to imagine the things Claire had gone through, to make a girl who was, originally, completely indifferent to the darkness and could to walk through dark tunnels full of monsters without blinking, become a girl who hesitated and panicked about crossing a dark corridor.

Leon didn't say anything. He simply nodded.

" The alarm ran on us when we were heading to the roof. The monsters didn't take long to catch on us. Claire wasn't lying when she said they were blind, they knew we were in the roof, but they couldn't tell where. CLaire used your pen to lead them straight to where the sun would reach them. And that's pretty much all I have to report…" he said "Now's your turn…"

Jill took a deep breath and looked at the other two men from her team. Barry was sitting a few steps from her cleaning up his magnum, while Chris stood with his back leaning against the wall and his arms crossed. He seemed to be pretty much lost in his own little world. Somehow, it always fell on her to do the debriefs.

"The attack was deliberately dropped over Med Center. None other spots in the area seemed to be affected by anything more than the energy shortage."

"Neo- umbrella?" Leon asked staring at her.

"No, a new group: they call themselves Mobius. They even managed to hack BSAA mainframe and send us a little message."

"Mobius? I've never heard of them. What did they say?"

Jill didn't reply immediately. She looked at Chris to see if the man was planning to make any comment.

"Claire was their target." Chris said cuttingly "They launched the attack with the objetive of retrieving her."

"What? How does sending some bloodthirsty monsters after her translates to retrieve?"

"Our guess is that they don't care whether Claire is alive or not." Jill explained "Claire was obviously a subject in their experiment and if the thing she was tested with creates things like the ones we saw on the roof this morning, then I bet Claire must have something special if she didn't turn into that."

"They only need her body. Her life is a plus…" Chris said angrily.

It was a blunt way to put it, but as much as she'd have liked to correct Chris, she knew he was right.

"Their attempt failed, but it's a safe bet that they will try again."

"Let them come and try. I'll be ready to blow their pathetic asses any time…"

"If only it was that easy..:" Jill sighed "We considered persuading Claire to hide, but …"

"Claire won't go into hiding. She's too much her brother's sister. Too stubborn for their own good; and none would accept going into hiding when they are putting other people's lives at risk…" Leon said shaking his head.

"She'd do something stupid…" Chris nodded irritated.

"Can't she be left under BSAA protection?"

"That...could be arranged; but it seems we lack _capable_ agents for the task." Jill explained.

"Excuse me if I can't believe that."

"Right, let's just rephrase that. There are not enough capable agents that are good enough, to Chris's standards, to be assigned as Claire's bodyguard."

"I am not leaving my sister under the watch of some rookie without a single drop of experience handling B.O.W.s. Especially,if some crazy terrorist group if after her."

"Don't let Claire, hear you...you make it sound like she can't take care of herself…" Barry snorted.

"Oh, I know she can kick some asses, but I am not taking chances after all that has happened."

Jill thought Chris, though a little over the limit, was acting reasonable. He had always been a slightly overprotective brother, and after losing his sister and then suddenly getting her back, it was only natural that his innate overprotectiveness went up a few stairs. She would have been the same, were she in his shoes.

"Then why don't you do it yourself, Redfield." Leon asked with a slightly amused frown.

"Oh, I'd love to…"

"Our team was given some new orders. We must track down Mobius and figure out the location where Claire was kept the past eight months. Chris barely managed to persuade Adams to let him scolt Claire back home, but he must come back here soon after…" Jill explained "but you know, maybe that's the best...the last thing she needs is her brother freaking over her every single minute…" she added teasingly.

Chris rolled his eyes and said nothing. Jill had to admit, after Claire sudden return, the team seemed to be more like it used to be. It was as if a veil had been pulled off from them: Barry was back to his usual dad jokes and Chris seemed much more relaxed.

 _If only you knew how many lives you influence, Claire._

"What if I do it?" Leon offered.

"What?"

"What if I take on the task of watching over her? It is not the first time I do bodyguard job for someone and Claire is more likeable than many of the people I've had to take care of. All you'd need to to do is give Hopkins a request to put Claire under the Special Witness Program and I can request to be assigned to the case."

"Aren't you busy with 007 stuff?" Barry asked good naturedly.

Leon frowned at the reference. That was a recurrent comparison and now that she thought of it, it'd been more or less Claire's fault that everyone was often using it.

"I have no mission calls, right now."

"You know, that is a very a good idea. Leon sure can live to your standards, Chris and he's Claire's friend. I am sure it'd be much likeable for her…"

Maybe she shouldn't have said the last part. Chris was frowning and Jill had to make a huge effort not laugh. Chris sure wasn't best buddies with Leon, but the blonde was actually among the top list of Chris's respected people; he would more or less fulfill all of Chris's crazy standards. However, there was a little detail that made Chris reconsider Leon's offer.

The simple thought made her want burst in laughter. Not too many years ago, the younger Redfield had developed some sort of crush on the blonde agent; years later and despite of Claire's constant assurances that Leon and she were only in friendly terms, Chris's brother jealousy was still at 100%.

"Chris?"

"Yeah, right. I'd make the request to both Adams and Hopkins, I guess."he finally replied and then looked at Jill with a look that seemed to say _I hope I don't regret this later._ "You do your calls, Leon . I'll go do mine. I'll be right back..."

"Don't take too long. We are meeting with Claire for breakfast…"

Chris walked out of the room and Jill was finally able to laugh, earning herself a smirk from Barry and a confused look from Leon.

"Sorry...sorry. I feel like I haven't had a good laugh in a while."

"Gotta admit there's something too funny about Chris acting like a normal person, for a change…"

"That's normal?" Leon asked with a frown.

"As normal as he can get. It's more like the Chris we knew when we were in STARS back at Racoon. No zombies, no terrorists, no viruses to worry about…" Barry laughed " Just worrying about how to keep boys and their mass of hormones away from his sister. Damn those were good old times…"

"You're talking like an old man, Barry." Jill laughed "but he's right, though. It was funny to see him at the time. Makes you wonder in what we have turned, huh?"

Jill remembered Chris talking to Claire in the phone in his full big brother mode. She couldn't quite recall what the discussion was about, but Chris was all worked out about some kid trying to hit on Claire. Everyone had stayed quiet for a few minutes just listen to his blabbering about pulling out a background check before Claire could consider dating to boy.

"Chasing off boys from Claire…" Leon mumbled " I think I remember Claire telling me something like that; but what does it have to do with all this?"

Jill tilted her head wondering if she should tell him. It was in the past anyway, so it sure didn't mean anything. Claire had been a young girl at the time.

"Oh, it's just a little bit of brotherly jealousy."

"What?"

"For Claire. She sort of had a crush on you when she was younger and Chris still can't get over it." Barry replied and Jill glared at the old man. Leave it to the father of the group to spill out unnecesary secrets. Barry definitely didn't know what the Honor Code for a girl's secret was.

Leon was definitely surprised by the revelation. It was kind of cute to see him looking so confused and she could tell why Claire would feel attracted to him. Some years ago, the man would have been the apple in the eye of many girls.

"Anyway, we should get going. Claire must be out of the check up now. We should go meet her." Jill quickly said before Barry could spill any more of Claire's secret.

Luckily, Leon didn't seem to tried to dig more information from them. Jill did see a hint of curiosity in the man's face, but he quickly replaced it with his usual stoic face.

 _I wonder what he thinks of Claire..._

"You guys go ahead. I still need to call. I'll catch up later…"

"Don't take long. Barry is paying after all…" Jill said walking to the door with a smirk. He probably deserved it. At least he totally owe it to Claire for telling Leon her little embarrasing secret.

"Hey, when did we agree to that….?" Barry complained.

Jill laughed and pushed the door open as she enjoyed the little piece of normalcy.


	33. Part II: Chapter 13

New update. Hope you'll enjoy it :)

My Welsh sucks so sorry if there's any mistake.

* * *

 _Leon_

It took Leon a few minutes to finish with all the protocol procedures to request his assignation to Claire's case; he was sure that he Hopkins would approved so he wasn't that concerned and after all things had been settled, all he had to do was wait for Hunnigan's call with his instructions.

The man walked to the small window in the room and rested his arm on the frame while he contemplated the distant welsh sea. It was November, and the weather was pretty chilly even when the skies were clear. The view of the bay was certainly beautiful; he could see a couple of ships, most likely fishing ships, gliding over the gray surface of the water surrounded by seagulls and he could even catch a glimpse from the white sand of the shore.

If he ignored the fact that he was on high alert due to the recent bioterrorist attacks, he could have even considered taking a walk through the place. Maybe he could make a mental note for future vacation references. His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by an incoming call in his mobile.

"Hunnigan"He answered in his typical greeting voice reserved for the woman. "I was expecting your call."

"I'm sure you were, Leon. You know, it isn't like you to request assignments; especially a escort mission." Hunnigan said teasingly "So...any ulterior motices I should be informed about..."

"Chris was being picky about the candidates; but he seemed to be okay with me doing it…"

For a fleeting moment, Barry's words seemed to resonate in her mind:

 _Oh, it's just a little bit of brotherly jealousy for Claire. She sort of had a crush on you when she was younger and Chris still can't get over it_

Leon shook his head trying to push away the growing sense of satisfaction that Barry's comment had generated. He shouldn't feel so pleased about Claire's secret affairs, even if those actually involved him.

"Yes, Mr. Redfield. He was very emphatic about not having any random agent watching over his little sister…" Hunningan said with a slight hint of amusing "It's funny how some men can change when the safety of their love ones is on the edge, don't you think?"

"I guess it is reasonable."

"I thought you were fed up with bodyguard duties…"

"Chris is…"

Leon was not sure what state his relationship with Chris was in. They were not exactly colleagues and friends seemed somewhat a bit overestimated. They sure respected each other and were, most of the time, in friendly terms.

"A friend...sort of. It is the least I can do…"

"Of course; but are you sure you're not doing this for another Redfield's sake?"

"You mean Claire…" Leon said with a frown. Of course it was about Claire, the whole point was protecting her, after all "Well she's the subject that needs to be protected, so yeah. I am doing it for her sake…"

"No, I didn't mean it like that." Hunnigan chuckled "You know, Leon. There was a little debate about whether you should be given this mission or not…"

"Really..let me guess the suits? Now, what was thei excuse?"

Hopkins held Leon in good esteem, however, the other members from the board weren't that kin to him most of the time. It wasn't the first time they put arguments against him.

"Personal feelings…"

"Excuse me?"

"Some suit-ups think that your apparent link with Ms. Redfield will interfere with your performance."

"And where the hell did they get that idea from?" Leon asked irritated.

"Hard to tell. Either way, due to Chris Redfield's demands and Hopkin's words on your sbehalf, you have been successfully assigned as Ms. Redfield bodyguard for the time being. However, under a certain condition…"

"What now?"

"A second agent has been assigned to assist you."

Leon held back a sigh. Claire wasn't going to be thrilled when she found out he'd be tailing her as her shadow for while, but once she found out she'd get TWO shadows, the woman was sure going to throw a temper tantrum. Leon couldn't avoid a smile as he imagined the woman pouting in annoyance.

 _As if Claire would pout…_

"I guess I'll have to suck it up. Who was assigned?"

"The good news is that it is agent Harper."

"Helena?"

Well, at least it'd be a familiar face. Helena and him had had a quite bumpy start, but after the events on Tall Oaks, China and pretty much ass kicking Simmon's mutated form, the two had become close friends. They had worked in a few missions together during the past three years and she was someone he could trust.

"I don't suppose you were the one to suggest, Helena, were you?"

"I might have put my five cents in there…" Hunnigan admitted " I don't think it is a bad idea. Helena's presence should come in handy; considering that Ms. Redfield is also a female, you know?"

As if Leon would forget such a thing; but Hunnigan was right. As a male, there were sure things that he'd find himself hand tied about. Helena could handle those without problem.

"Well, that's settled then."

"Yes, Helena will meet you when you return to NA, with Ms. Redfield. I already send her the catch up information and she should contact you herself sometime today…"

"Yeah, that should work. Thanks Hunnigan…"

"No need for that...I'm her to assist you, after all."

"Talking about assistance… Hunnigan, I need a favor."

"Yes?"

"Can research about a terrorist group name Mobius?"

"Mobius? I've never heard of them before…"

"They're the ones that kidnapped Claire and are currently after her…"

"I thought the suspects were Neo-umbrella…"

"Yeah, we all thought that, but apparently no."

"I'll see what I can find then. I'll call you later to feed you in with furhter instructions, Leon. For now, send my regards to Ms. Redfield."

"Of course I will...goodbye Hunnigan."

Leon put down his mobile and looked outside. The once clear skies had turned gray and it looked like it would rain soon.

 _What a pity. It was such a nice day._

Leon ran his hand through his hair as he checked his phone. Jill had been kind enough to send him their current location, so it wasn't hard for him to find the local pub where the large group was enjoying their breakfast. It was certainly a lot more relieving to see Claire out of her hospital attire,the casual clothes - clearly borrowed- made her look a lot healthier and more like that badass biker, he knew. The red head was squeezed between Barry and her brother, and both men seemed quite busy filling her plate with as much food as they considered appropriate. Claire kept rolling her eyes and looking at Jill with begging looks, but the blonde woman was too busy laughing to notice.

"Oh, thanks heaven...Leon save me. These two are trying to feed me up like a christmas pork." Claire cried out.

"Bullshit, you gotta put up some weight Claire…" Barry nodded " You look like a malnourished boy right now…"

"Well, thank you, Barry. That sure builds up my self esteem."

"Oh, let them have fun pampering you, Claire. God knows when will it be the next time I get a chance to see this again…" Jill snickered "Beside, you do need to eat."

"I am eating, aren't I? The problem is...the food on my plate keeps appearing. Saya, some medical supervision over here?"

"You've been almost two weeks under IV and no feeding. The food will do you good."

"Not helping…"

Leon smirked as he pulled out the chair at Jill's right and sat down watching Claire bicker with Chris and Barry about the food. Jill had turned to him and smiled.

"You should take a picture of this…" Leon said pointing at the group with a nudge.

"Are you kidding me? I took a video." she laughed "so did you make your calls?"

"Yeah, all is will give me further instructions, later on, but for now it's just about trying to tell Claire…"

"She'll manage. It is you after all. Breakfast?"

Leon ordered a traditional plate and turned back to face Claire.

"Maybe you two should stop for now…" Leon said and he caught on Claire's grateful gaze "She's been out of food for a while, if you keep feeding her like a sausage, she might get sick.."

"Thank you…"

"She can eat that later…"

"Guess he's right. I got too caught up in the moment." Chris said shaking his head "Yeah, guess she can take this back and eat later…"

"Then let's call for the waiter…"

The woman that came was a small brunette with pretty green eyes. She smiled at the group with a toothy grin as she dried her hands in her apron.

"Beth alla i ei wneud i chi?" **(What can I do for you?)**

"What? Sorry girl...we don't speak…" Barry had began but he was soon interrupted by Claire.

"A allech chi becyn y bwyd hwn i ni? **(Could you pack this food for us?)** "Claire had automatically replied the question surprising everyone in the table; and judging by her face, surprising even herself as well.

"Ah! Rydych chi'n siarad ein hiaith **(Ah! You speak our language)**?"

"Ie, felly mae'n ymddangos. **(Yes, so it seems.)** "Claire replied shocked.

"Mae'n brin cael twristiaid sy'n ei siarad **(It's hard to find tourists who speak it.)**." the woman smiled, she picked Claire's plate and smiled again."Byddaf yn iawn yn ôl ( **I'll be right back)**."

The waitress walked away leaving the group with in awkward silence.

"You speak welsh?" Chris asked surprised "Since when?"

"I...I...have no idea…" Claire replied "I replied in automatic, I didn't even think what I was saying…"

All the people at the table seemed confused, except for one. Dr. Hiwamura was stroking her chin deep in thought.

"Huh, I think I might have a theory about it…"she said looking at Claire " I think Claire might have learned the welsh at some period before she suffered her retrograde amnesia. The effects of the memory loss due to the use of drugs and PTSD probably blocked out the memories of her learning it,but the knowledge was well stored in her semantic memory. When the waitress came out asking in welsh, her brain must have unconsciously made the association and Claire answered it. That would also mean that the use of the language was more or less some sort...habit. "

"I am sure I've never studied Welsh. I did Spanish, chinese, japanese and even a little russian, but...welsh?"

"Semantic memories work in curious ways sometimes" Hiwamura replied "if you learned the language and became habituated to use it on a daily basis for example, you will remember it. Sort of like body memory, even if your brain can't make out the background or the context in which you learned, it can still use it on instinct. That is why amnesiac can retain their language memories even if they don't remember who they are or where they came from."

"I can remember the languages I learned before, and Welsh wasn't among of them. I mean, I've never been to Wales...until now."

"Well, there's a small gap of 8 months missing, is it not? So what do you know ? You might have learned during that time and that's why you can't remember. We know most of the memories from the past 8 months seems to have been selectively blocked out from your head."

"So you mean, Claire must have learned the language while she was in captivity?" Jill said with wide eyes "that would mean she was hold in a Welsh speaking area."

"Naturally, what I just said is a theory; but by due the facts we know, it is most likely, yes."

"That gives us a lead to track down where Claire was taken to."Chris said rubbing his chin.

Claire smiled apologetically. She was probably feeling guilty for not being able to provide them with more information.

"Sorry that I can't be of more help. I just...can't seem to remember…" she sighed " I mean most of memories from before that, returned eventually. I can still remember when we got attacked on the underground lab when I was first kidnapped...but then everything is….so confusing…"

"It might be due to the heavy dosage of drugs you were in or PTSD. I am sure you weren't treated like royalty at the time…"

Claire let out a frustrated sigh.

"Hey, don't worry about it. We'll figure it out…" Chris said patting her back.

"Chris go that right, but hey...let's not think about that now. We have Claire back and we should let her enjoy herself for a while. What do you say Claire? How about a walk around town?" Barry said putting an arm around her shoulders in a fatherly way.

"Since she is mostly recovered , I think the exercise should do her well."

"Ya heard the doctor, Claire." Barry laughed.

"Besides, someone really needs to get some new clothes…" Hiwamura said amused.

"Oh, yeah...I am so gonna miss the hospital gowns…" Claire said sarcastically "They were so fashionable bloodied and all…"

"Oh, you surely looked high fashion…"

"Yeah, like a someone from a damn horror movie…"

Leon snorted at the comment. It was nice to have the old Claire with her sarcastic humor back; but the the image of the Claire that had went through hell with him the night before was still fresh in his mind: scared, fragile and so unlike the one sitting in front of him; and he wondered if it'd come out again any time soon.

He saw the woman make a soft frustrated groan at , probably, some overprotective comment from her brother; and she playfully punched him on his arm. A soft beeping interrupted their little friendly chatter and the three members of the BSAA pulled out ther comlinks almost at the same time.

"They're calling us…" Jill said checking the message "Strategy meeting…"

"For what?" Claire said puzzled.

"Recon mission of sorts…" Chris replied "Nothing you should worry about."

"But well, say goodbye to our plan "Barry said shaking his head.

"Oh, never mind about that. It's fine." Claire said waving her hands "I'll just find something to entertain myself back at the base... "

"No, I'll go with you " Leon said looking at Chris. Claire did need to get some shopping and she deserved a little bit of fresh air. Keeping her at base would do her no good. "You three go ahead. I can scort the ladies around town…"

Claire had looked at him shocked, and she could probably guess why. Claire knew how much he hated scorting tasks; but he could make an exception this time.

"Well, look at that; what a gentleman…" Claire grinned shaking her head "Don't you have some super important secret mission to attend?"

"No, I've got another important mission at hand." Leon said shrugging "Keeping you out of problem."

If only she knew how true that was; but even if he hadn't had that mission, he would made the little sacrifice nevertheless. Chris seemed to ponder his offering for a couple minutes until he nodded.

"Well, I guess that's settled." Chris said; he then put his hand on Claire's shoulder "Go have some fun and buy whatever you need, Claire. Just set it to my account. We'll meet at lunch…"

Claire nodded. Chris, Jill and Barry got up from their seats and headed to the exit. Chris stopped a few seconds and gave Leon a meaningful look that the blonde could only interpret as " _Give me a report every 10 minutes_ ".

The blonde agent smirked. He would have never pictured Chris as an overprotective brother, but the proof of it was standing right in front of his eyes and he found that quite amusing; but he couldn't blame him for his paranoia. He, too, had developed a small sense of overprotectiveness over Claire since they had found her again. Even though it wasn't as intense as Chris's, he could relate to the man.

He looked at the three BSAA members disappear outside the pub and turned back to the remaining woman in the table. Dr. Hiwamura had an amused expression as she was speaking to Claire; the last one seemed to be quite confused. Leon checked his watch, it was quite early.

"Well, should we go?" he suggested.

"Now that I remember…" Hiwamura said out of sudden "I need to fill in some papers before Claire can travel to the United States; so why don't you two go ahead?"

"You are not coming?" Leon asked looking at the asian who seemed to be awfully amused by something.

"Oh, I am afraid not this time. See you two around and have fun…"

The woman got up picking up the packed food that the waitress had brought back a couple minutes ago, and put a friendly hand on Leon's shoulder with a secretive smile. The blonde agent looked at her puzzled, but before he could formulate a question, the doctor was already gone.

"Oh, now you're fast, aren't you Saya?" Claire mumbled rolling her eyes.

"It seems like it'll be only you and me…" Leon chuckled at Claire "Sounds like a date…"

"A date, huh? Let's hope we won't get any party crashers, then."

"Don't worry. I'll shoot their heads off for you."

"Aw, that's charming. That's what you tell your girls these days?" Claire snorted " _I'll shoot a hundred headshots for you_. Can't get anymore romantic…"

"Unfortunately, I don't think all girls can appreciate the art of zombie heads exploding at a perfectly aimed headshot…"

"You're right. They probably won't. Guess it _is_ bad flirting phrase…"

"Well, that depends of the girl. It worked with you, didn't it?"

" Really, Kennedy? Aww, well maybe it's because I can see the art in zombie brains flying all over the place; but how about with shoot them together instead of you shooting them for me?"

"Reasonable" Leon said raising his arms in defeat "I couldn't expect less from you."

Claire laughed; and Leon could feel the enjoyment at the sound of her laugh and the easygoing atmosphere. He got up and with a mocking gesture of a gentleman, he pulled out Claire's chair and offered her his hand.

"Should we?"

Claire took it laughing as she shook her head.

"You'll always be such a player"

Leon smiled and thought, for the first time that he could remember, that perhaps he would actually enjoy this escmission.


	34. Part II: Chapter 14

New chapter.

Forgive me for the bad accent writing. I tried to write out the accents the best I could. THe story is quite advanced now, and I hope to keep updating as often as I can; but semester just started so my time is getting tighter.

Thanks to the sweet people who reviewed.

PLease enjoy this CHapter!

* * *

 _Claire_

Having breakfast with friends and family that morning was the best she'd had in a long time; even if Chris and Barry were driving her nuts as they insisted on pushing tons of food at her with the excuse of her being simply too thin. She knew both men were concerned for her well being, but her stomach couldn't handle that much food right now. The laughs, the bickers and the talking were so familiar and warm and it made her feel normal for a change.

 _As if we could ever be normal again…_

Despite her annoyance, Claire was actually enjoying herself until she had, unconsciously, spoken in a foreign language that she didn't remember ever learning. She hadn't even thought it at the time; she had heard the waitress ask the question and she had answered automatically, surprising herself and the rest of the people around her.

How could she know welsh, when she couldn't remember ever learning it; that made no sense at all; but trust Saya, to come with up with a viable might have learned during her time in cacptivity, but her selective retrograde amnesia was preventing her from remembering. Neuroscience was more Saya's thing than Claire's, so all those things were something she barely understood.

Thinking about it made her feel dizzy. The memories of her time in captivity weren't exactly gone. They were in her head in the form of scattered pictures that simply made no sense at all. She couldn't make the connection between them and that made her frustarted.

 _They'll return..._

Claire knew the voice was right and she could start to feel her head becoming foggy once more, but she was soon pulled back by Barry's voice suggesting that they should all go out for stroll around town. The idea had seemed promising, but was sadly thrown away as Chris, Jill and Barry were summoned back to BSAA base for a meeting. Claire couldn't help but feel the small pinch of guilt as she wished that they could have stayed like this: careless, happy and free, for a bit longer.

The three BSAA seemed lenient to leave, but Claire knew far too well their job was much more important than a small stroll with her. She smiled and said it was alright.

 _Though it isn't really how you feel…_

She could find something to do back in base, maybe use the time to catch up with the most recent events she'd missed or something alike; but then, Leon had spoken. The man had been so quiet until then that he could have easily sneaked out without anyone noticing at all.

"You three go ahead. I can scort the ladies around town…"

Claire looked at him shocked by his sudden offer. She knew Leon disliked the missions that involved scorting and guarding, so for him to voluntarily offer to do so was so unlikely. The man looked at her with raised eyebrow.

"Well, look at that; what a gentleman…" Claire grinned shaking her head "Don't you have some super important secret mission to attend?"

"No, I've got another important mission at hand." Leon said shrugging "Keeping you out of problem."

That caught her by surprise. Since when was that considered a mission? For all she knew, problems tended to follow here wherever she went. She never asked for them, of course, but just like Chris, she seemed to be a trouble magnet.

Chris seemed to be considering his offer and after a few minutes, Claire had waited for Big Brother Chris Mode to kick in and point out how many wrong things and dangers would it implied, but the list never came. Chris had only nodded.

"Well, I guess that's settled." Chris said; he then put his hand on Claire's shoulder "Go have some fun and buy whatever you need, Claire. Just set it to my account. We'll meet at lunch…"

Claire nodded staring at him dumbfounded. He had no complained or made a remark of how much of a bad idea that was. She watched how Chris, Jill and Barry got up from their seats and headed to the exit; but she caught Chris stopping a few seconds and giving Leon a meaningful look.

" _Well, there it is...I knew Chris couldn't just leave without giving Leon a serious brother warning…"_

To her surprise, the blonde agent smirked. When did Leon and Chris become good buds? She must have missed a lot. Claire made a mental note to ask for the recent reports so that she could read them during the flight home.

She had been overly focused in her thoughts that she almost fell from the chair when Saya gently elbowed her.

"Well, seems like there is your opening... " Saya whispered.

"What?"

"Going out with Kennedy…"

"Please, it's not like we haven't gone out together before. I spend the night with yesterday…"

"Running away from monsters. That doesn't count…"

"We are in friendly terms. He doesn't see me that way, Saya." Claire said shaking her head " I'm just the tomboyish girl who ran away from Racoon with him."

"I wouldn't be that sure,Claire…" Saya said with a amused smile "I wouldn't be so sure…"

Claire didn't know what Saya was implying with smile, but before she could even think of a question, Leon's voice interrupeted her line of thought and she saw Saya's smile grow.

"Well, should we go?"

"Now that I remember…" Saya said "I need to fill in some papers before Claire can travel to the United States; so why don't you two go ahead and have fun?"

"You are not coming?" Leon asked looking at the asian.

"Oh, I am afraid not this time. You two go have fun. I'll see you later. Oh, I 'll take this back with me"

The woman got up picking up the packed food that the waitress had brought back a couple minutes ago, and put a friendly hand on Leon's shoulder with a secretive smile. Claire was suddenly feeling annoyed by the implications of Saya's little trick and she cursed the day she told her that she'd had a crush on Leon for quite a while when they were younger, and that she still found him quite handsome. Right now she felt like she want to slam her head against the table, by the time she had looked back up, the japanese doctor was no longer in the pub.

"Oh, now you're fast, aren't you Saya?" Claire mumbled rolling her eyes.

" _Tricky little fox…"_

 _And yet...you are glad you will get some time with him, don't you?_

Claire would have liked to smack her inner voice; especially since it might be right. She actually enjoyed the times when she got to spend time with Leon, and having the chance to do so without a zombie horde chasing after them, was a present from heavens.

"It seems like it'll be only you and me…" Leon chuckled making Claire wake up from her monologue "Sounds like a date…"

A date. She knew Leon was joking, but the word made her shudder. She was sure over her crush over him, so why was she feeling so awkward?

"A date, huh? Let's hope we won't get any party crashers, then." she said following his joke.

"Don't worry. I'll shoot their heads off for you."

She had no doubts that Leon would do that, but then, he'd probably find himself in a tight rope and she would have to come crashing to save him.

"Aw, that's charming. That's what you tell your girls these days?" Claire snorted " _I'll shoot a hundred headshots for you_. Can't get anymore romantic…"

"Unfortunately, I don't think all girls can appreciate the art of zombie heads exploding at a perfectly aimed headshot…"

"You're right. They probably won't. Guess it _is_ bad flirting phrase…"

"Well, that depends of the girl. It worked with you, didn't it?"

Claire wondered if it had. It was no secret that the man would certainly live through his words and blow up any enemy's head that could dare to attack her, but she would totally do the same for him. There was nothing implied on the innocent joke.

" Really, Kennedy? Aww, well maybe it's because I can see the art in zombie brains flying all over the place; but how about we shoot them together instead of you shooting them for me?"

"Reasonable" Leon said raising his arms in defeat "I couldn't expect less from you."

Claire laughed. Those were the kind of things that she enjoyed from Leon's company: his smartass and sassy attitude. She saw him get up from his chair and mock gesture as a gentleman, pulling her chair out and offering her his hand pompously.

"Should we?"

Claire took it laughing as she shook her head.

"You'll always be such a player."

"I'm just being a gentleman…"

"Really? How does your partners keep with you. Your poor guide, Hunnigan was her name right? She must be all fed up with you."

"Hunnigan knows me as much as you do. You two would probably become good friends since both of you seem so _immune_ to my so called charm. She sends you her regards, by the way…"

"I've never talked to her…" Claire said surprised " Wow, should I know her?"

"She works for the DSO, Claire. She probably knows more about you than yourself…"

"You have a point, but you should introduce her to me someday…"

Claire felt the cold sea breeze as soon as she stepped out of the pub. The BSAA had settled their base in the small village of Llanon at the side of the Irish sea coast. It barely had around 2500 habitants, the streets were filled with small houses, flowers pots and cobbled roads that Claire found absolutely charming.

" It is really a pretty place, isn't it?" Claire said happily.

"It is…" Leon admitted "I'm more of a city boy though…"

"You are? Chris and I were from a small town; after Chris finished his military training, he was stationed in Racoon and eventually joined STARS. A couple years later I moved into the college dorms in the neighbor city. I didn't like it; don't get me wrong, the city it's nice, but sometimes I just miss the peace and quiet…"

"I didn't know that. So Chris is a farm boy…"

Claire and Chris weren't exactly farm people, but they just happened to live in a small town in an more rural place because their parents liked it better. Their mother was a veterinary and their father was a local sheriff; that was the reason why Chris always said she'd taken more after their mom and he after their father. It was kind of cliché, but Claire had certainly inherited the bug for academics that her mother had.

"Not quite; but we did play outdoors a lot when we were younger. I remember my mother freaking out whenever we came home covered in mud after a nice sesion of mud-wrestling…"

"That's not quite lady like…"

"I know, mom used to say the same; but my dad would laugh and say she had nothing to criticise me about when she herself spent her time stumbling around the mud with the animals. She was a vet, you see…"

"I see, and what about your dad?"

"He was the local sheriff. He was the one to set Chris in the "hero" path; if you know what I mean…"

"And I asume yours as well."

"I'm not a hero. I don't really go kicking asses as Chris does…"

"You're still a hero, you know…"

"I'd say you and Chris are the heroes, while I am the sidekick…"

"Claire, you'll never be a sidekick. You can be sure of that."

"Oh, I don't mind being in the background. I don't do well with too much attention." Claire said looking around the place "This place kind of reminds me of the place I grew at. It's not how it looks, but the feels. Chris and I had tons of little misbehaved adventures there..."

"You and Chris were always close then."

"We were. Chris was always took the big brother role too seriously. I blame Dad for it." Claire laughed. They reached a small vantage point that gave them a nice view of the bay "You know, it's just strange how welI I remember this things that happened so long ago despite my "amnesiac" state, but I just can't remember what happened to me the past 8 months…"

"You heard what Hiwamura said. They'll come when they need to…"

"I guess…I hate neurosciences..."

"That's why you went for genetics? Or our viral experiences inspired you to that?"

"I went for genetics even before the Racoon mess. I just picked virology after that…"

"You are such…"

"A nerd? Yeah, people told me that a lot. Especially Chris…"

She walked around the commercial area looking at the store windows. She wasn't much in mood for shopping,but she did need some clothes. Leon wasn't too thrilled about clothe shopping either, but if she had to grade him, he did much better than Chris. Whenever she went shopping with Chris she would often pick up the most outrageous outfits just to see her brother's horrified look. With Leon, it didn't quite work that well, he would just go along the joke and suggest something even more outrageous. After trying out some things just for the fun of laughing about them, Claire ended up buying only a couple simple outfits, so that she didn't need to rely on borrowed clothes until she went back home where she hoped her clothes still existed.

The shops in town weren't as fashionable as the ones in the big cities, but the clothes were nice and comfy, something that Claire favoured more than fashion. Claire wasn't really too much into brands or styles that were trendy; her criticism was most usually more focused into practical, easy to move in case she had to run, comfortable and covered enough in case of zombies. She never understood why movies insisted on throwing the protagonists to fight in heels and miniskirts.

"That should do…"

"I think you may be the only woman I know who receives a green light to use her brother's money and only buys two sets of clothing."

"I'm guessing I still have my clothes back at home, so I see no reason to buy more than I really need." Claire shrugged "I'd rather…"

Claire suddenly stopped on her tracks and looked around startled. A distant sound had caught her attention and she was set on alert immediately. Nothing seemed abnormal in the surroundings, but she felt something off. Claire sharpened her ears and caught the sound once more. It was the soft chiming of a music box. It rang soft and soft and soothingly, but the melody made her shiver.

"Claire?" Leon said, but she didn't hear him as her mind was busy in other thoughts.

The tune was familiar, she remembered hearing it before. A sting of pain pierced her head and whirlwind of blurry images and voices filled her head. Without realizing it, her feet were carrying her all the way to the source of the music.

It turned out that the music was coming from a small antique shop; inside the establishment, there was an old man sitting at counter. There were a variety of tools scattered all over the surface and his wrinkled and calloused hands were holding a small brass pocket watch that rang with the melody.

The bell of the door chimed announcing her presence, and the old man raised his head and pushed away the thick set of glasses and smiled at her.

"Goo' mornin', miss…"Welcome. Wha' can I do f'ye?"

The old man's voice seemed to break through the music spell and Claire was woken from her trance. She looked around her feeling a little bit lost and wondering how she had arrived there when she felt Leon's hand on her shoulder.

"Claire?" he said looking at her in concern "Are you okay?"

"What...happened?"

"You spaced out and suddenly started to walk until you reached this small shop."

"I did…? The song…!"

Leon stared at her confused while Claire turned to the old man.

" Good morning, sir. The song...that was just playing...could you tell me where was it coming from?"

"Ah, the Suo-Gân, ye mean?" the old man said with a thick accent "it's from this ol' watch'"

The old man handled her the pocket watch. It seemed old, but well cared and it had tree shaped carving on the cover. Claire wound up the thing and opened it lid letting the mechanism play the song.

"Suo-Gân..." she whispered. She had heard the name before.

The tune began playing and the wave of familiarity washed over her and bombarding of images began again as a flashback hit her. She was sitting on bench in some sort of inner garden; there were roses around her; everything around her looked white, insipid and blurred and her hands were holding a circular brass box. There was someone sitting beside her, it seemed like an old man, his hands were resting over something that seemed like an old cane, but his face was blurred.

" _It oozed to be m' daughters…"_

" _Your daughter's?"_

" _Made et for herr when she was born."_

" _It's a cute song…"_

" _Et's the Suo-Gân. A welsh llul fore the lil' folk. I can teach ye."_

" _You would?"_

" _Yes, of course. When ye go out 'rom 'ere, you might sing it to yer children…"_

The image disappeared almost as fast as it had come and Claire was pulled back into reality. It took her a few seconds to remember that she wasn't inside that memory, but standing in a small antique shop in town with Leon by her side.

"Aye, et's a welsh song...a lullaby for the young folk. Ye like et, miss?"

"It is a traditional lullaby?" Leon asked him.

"Aye, all keds 'ere 've heard et since young. Every'ne knowz et."

" _Huna blentyn ar fy mynwes. Clyd a chynnes ydyw hon;_

 _Breichiau mam sy'n dynn amdanat,Cariad mam sy dan fy mron;Ni chaiff dim amharu'th gyntun,Ni wna undyn â thi gam;Huna'n dawel, annwyl blentyn,Huna'n fwyn ar fron dy fam…."_

Claire recited as if she was reading the lyrics. The he man from her memory had taught the song, but who was that man?

Claire tried to think who that man was, but all she could come up with was a mix feelings: fondness, warmth and familiarity; overall, positive feelings. Did it mean that the man in her memory had been a friend?

"Oh, miss knows…" the old man smiled.

Claire tried to hide her the surprise in her voice with a nervous smile.

"Someone happened to teach me once…" she said honestly "He said I could sing it to my children someday…"

The old man smiled.

"Ye look like the motherly type. Ye like children?

Claire smiled. She did like children. She used to spend a lot of time with the rescued children at Terra Save's refugee center when she was still a regular agent. She would play with them, tell them story and bring them candy when she was around; but her visits bevcame fewer when she became chief.

"I do." she nodded "Maybe more than they like me…"

"She's a liar. She's actually very good with them…." Leon commented "Kids tend to love her…"

"That's not true…" she replied.

"Sherry loved you…"

"She loved you, too."

"Not as much as she loved you, I am sure…

Claire was about to say something, but the old man's amused chuckle reminded her of the man's presence.

"Ye wife is quite the modest kind, too."

"Wife? Oh no...she's not…"

"We're not married…" Claire quickly said "We are just friends…"

"No? What a pity. Ye two 'ake a pretty pair…"

Claire stared at him shocked. What was up with the world today? Everyone seemed to be pushing her at Leon with no apparent reason. If she didn't knew better she would have suspected Saya to be behind it. Leon seemed kind of amused when the man had mistaken them for a couple, though.

Claire sighed and looked at the pocket watch in her hands. It was actually very pretty thing. Antiques weren't much of her thing, but maybe it was the song that made her feel somehow attached to it. Her hand traced over the complicated tree pattern carved on the worn out metal.

"What's this carving?"Claire asked.

" Ah et's the _crann bethadh_ ; better know as The Tree of Life. It's an ol' symbol of the ol' folk."

"Old folk?" Leon asked.

"The Celts…" the old man explained "symbol of harmony, strength and wisdom."

So it had a cultural symbol. Since she was shopping in Wales, she should at least get a souvenir.

"I think I'll buy the watch…" Claire said.

"Of, course, miss."

Claire paid for the pocket watch and some minutes later, Leon and she were walking through town once more. It had gotten colder, but Claire still didn't feel like going back to BSAA base, so Leon suggested that they should take a look at the beach since they were already there.

The shoreline was beautiful. Unlike the beaches she had seen back in United States, the coast from Llanon was cool and surrounded by green grasses. Not too far from them, she could see a small hill that faced the sea in a small stony cliff and the seagulls flew over their heads chirping lively. The whole picture made Claire smile.

" _If only things would stay like this…"_

"You know. This is probably the first and only time we have done something normal together…" Leon said watching the waves break against the shore "Took us 12 years to have a normal meeting, huh?"

"Has it been that long?" she replied thinking back of that deal they had made after the Harvardville incident "Wow, we are getting old…"

"You think?"

"Don't worry. The age will just get you more fans…"

Leon snorted and she laughed. It was a nice feeling, and it was in moments like this that she wondered how things would have gone if bioterrorism had never came into their lives.

 _But you wouldn't have met him, then._

If umbrella had never began the mess with bioweapons, Chris would have never gone to Bravo Team's rescue and then he'd never had made it to Spencer's mansion and he would have never ran off into hiding; and then Claire would have never gone to Racoon searching for him. She wouldn't have met Leon or Sherry. Leon would have never become a government agent and he would probably be in his desk reading some silly magazine with a cup of coffee. Sherry would have grown with her parents and gone to college. Steve would be alive and messing around somewhere around the world. Terra Save would have never existed to begin with and Pedro, Gave, Edward and Gina would have never died in Alex hands. Neil would be alive and living happily somewhere in Terragrigia like Natalia.

So many things would be different; so many things would be better; but some of the things she had now made her happy, too. Was it too selfish to say that sometimes she thanked those terrible events for letting her know all the people she had come to care and love with the years. People with whom she shared a bond that was beyond friends and family.

"Hey, Leon…"she said softly as she watched a seagull dive into the sea for a catch "Have you ever thought of how life would have been if we had been normal?"

"You mean if Racoon never happened?"

Claire only nodde. The blonde agent's gaze stared at the horizon as he seemed to think the question.

"I'll be lying if I say no…" Leon finally answered "I've wondered about that in many occasions, to be honest. Where I would be if the events of Racoon never took place. I'd probably be the cop I was meant to be from the beginning. Maybe I'd have been promoted or I would be happily married, with children an a dog. Who knows…"

"I think I could probably picture you." Claire smiled imagining Leon playing in a grassy courtyard with giant golden retriever, a red ball and kids running around him and calling him dad "Who would think Mr. Pretty boy actually thought of having a family…"

"I may be flirty sometimes, but even I know when to cut off the jokes and take things seriously. What about you Claire?"

"I...don't know…perhaps I'd have a family, too, and we wouldn't know each other."

"Chris would still be in STARS. We would have eventually met when you came to visit or when I made you a ticket for careless driving. …"

"And I would have tried to flirt my way out of it…"she laughed.

"And who knows, it might work…" Leon chuckled "But there's no point in thinking that. Those things can't be changed anymore, but we can still build the future we all wanted once…"

"So you have plans for the future, Mr. secret agent…."

"I won't be an agent forever, Claire; and you know, maybe someday I'll just want to pull out and settle down; get the family I once thought of having and spend lazy afternoons watching the tv with them. "

"I wonder if that certain spy would agree to that arrangement, though…"

"Ada? When did I say that I'd settle down with her, huh?"

"You didn't; but I'm sure it passed your mind." Claire chuckled "I hope you get it though; you deserve it."

"We all deserve it…" Leon corrected "You can't expect to stay in Terra Save forever, do you, Claire?"

Did she? Claire had stopped thinking about her future a long time ago, when somewhere along the way, her own future wishes had lost importance compared to making other people's life better. Now, all she knew was loneliness and work.

"I don't know." she answered frankly.

The conversation ended there. Claire and Leon stayed at the beach for while longer; they watched the ebb and flow of the waves while enjoying each other silent company. Claire took out the small pocket watch and flipped open the lid. The music began to ring instantly; echoing through the empty shoreline.

"This is a nice place."

"Yeah, quiet and peaceful. I've got the feeling that we won't have much of it for a while, so we might as well enjoy it while we can."

"Yeah, I guess once we get back to USA things will get busy. I've got 8 months worth of work to catch up"

"Have it easy, Claire. You don't need to push yourself that much."

"I know everyone worries, but now more than ever I must focus on my work; at least the one with research…" Claire said shaking her head "I wonder who's been helping out BSAA with the analyses…"

"Chambers…" Leon replied "Dr. Chambers has been the one leading the researchers the past 8 months."

"I see...yeah, sounds about right. Rebecca is brilliant…"

Rebecca Chambers, a former STAR member, friend of Chris's. SHe was a prodigy in medicine and biochemistry. Claire had met her once or twice during a couple of academic conferences, but she never really had the chance to speak to her. Claire knew, from Chris, that Rebecca was an undercover agent for BSAA and she was active in vaccine research. Claire's team would often send their results to her.

"Yeah, CHambers is good, but apparently not as good as you."

Claire shook her head. She wasn't a prodigy as Rebecca so there was absolutely no truth behind that affirmation.

"You are overpraising me, Leon."

"Not really. Don't get me wrong. Chambers is good at what she does, but I've heard the word between colleagues and she's not as fast as you were."

"As my anonymous team, you mean. Well, Rebecca is a medic, she's not exactly trained to deal with the things my team does. It's not her fault…"

"And no one is blaming her. I am just saying, she's not as good as you and your team, that's all…" Leon said with a small smile "Helena and I retrieve a viral sample from a small group in Mexico a few days ago. It is presumed to be a new virus, but it seems Chamber's team has had no luck on reproducing it for study or something like that."

"Oh, she must be struggling to find the target cell…" Claire realized and noticing Leon's questioning look she quickly explained" Virions have protein signals on their outer coat that can bind to a receptor protein on the surface of a cell that it will infect. This receptors and protein signals are specific, so some viruses can only infect certain cells in specific."

"Guess that would make sense; and how exactly do you fix that?"

"Well, people would usually test the virion with different cell types and se see how that goes; but that's quite a task and it takes way too much time and money."

"Right, maybe I should have asked what would _you_ do?"

Claire laughed.

"I am a geneticist. Most of my approached would go that way. Proteins are coded by genes, if you can located the protein receptor coding sequence, you can more or less work on it to identificate it and then you can reduce the number of possible receptors."

"Sounds complicated."

"A little, but compared to the losses by doing trying different cell lines, it a lot more efficient if you know how approach it. I guess I should ask Chris if I can get a hold of a sample of the virus…"

"I am sure they will agree."

"So that was the mission you were before you came here?"

"Yeah."

"You sure have a exciting life."

"You could say that; my new mission doesn't sound like it'd be easy either."

"Oh, can I ask or is it classified?"

"It is classified, but you can ask. It's an escort and guarding mission…."

"Oh, no...your nightmare….you just love those." she teased.

"This one sounds promising though. The subject seems likeable."

"Subject huh? Testosterone or estrogen?"

"It is a she, if that's what you mean."

"I should have guessed it was a female. Pretty girl?"

"She is pretty; has quite a temper and certainly won't like the arrangement. You know, she's the kind of woman who takes care of herself perfectly well…"

"If she's that good, why does she need you as escort."

"Because she tends to worry more about others' safety over hers; and right now she's being targeted by a dangerous group."

"Huh, sounds nasty. I wouldn't like to be in her shoes. You'll do a great job though, and she'll eventually accept you; she'll probably end up crushing over your heroic form like every girl does."

Leon snorted and he pinched the bridge of his nose trying to keep down a laugh.

"I don't think that would happen this time."

"What? You know that always happen."

"I don't think there's that kind of attraction…"

"Why? Oh, she likes other woman then?"

"No, it's not that. I think she's simply too smart to fall for that."

"Oh, so you know her…"

"Yeah, we might have some story…"

"Oh….don't tell me it is Ada…."

Claire swallowed a laugh when Leon choked and stared at her as if she was crazy.

"No. It is not Ada…"

"Oh, then I have no idea who it might be…"

"You'll find out soon enough."

"Oh, come on…Do I know her?"

"Oh, yeah; you know her very well…"

Claire looked at him curiously. She began to list down all the woman acquaintance she and the blonde agent shared and came out blank. She had decided to press into the matter a little more, but Leon was busy speaking in his phone.

"That was Chris…"

Claire rolled her eyes.

"Please tell me he wasn't checking on me…"

"Ok, I won't tell you" Leon smirked "but he also said that they'll meet us at the pier by noon. It's 10 am….so we still have two hours."

"Aren't you bored of following me around?"

"Surprisingly, not at all. I am actually enjoying myself..."

"Ok, who are you and what did you do to Leon?"

Leon laughed at Claire's sudden out burst. He then stared at her with a smile.

"Claire?"

"Yeah?"

"I am glad you're back."


	35. Part II: Chapter 15

This chapter has a little bit of comical releif (at least it had for me)

Hope you guys enjoy it. I think I'm aproaching the end of Episode II on paper; but I'll be a bit busy so I can't promise fluent updates. Be sure that they'll come at least 1 per week though.

Enjoy it!

Thanks for all reviews!

* * *

 _Chris_

Chris tapped his fingers impatiently on the table , earning a small glare from Jill who elbowed his arm in disapproval.

The start of the meeting was just like any other, Adams's face was projected in the screen as the they explained what had happened yesterday; from the attack on medical center to the hacking in BSAA main server and the message that Mobius had left them. They had found no survivors in the building except for Claire and Leon, and just like Leon had said, he might had been among the losses if Claire hadn't guided him. However, Chris omitted that little detail when he was asked to give a report on the case. Adams seemed quite relieved when Chris had confirmed that Claire was alive and mostly okay.

"It's good to hear that." Adams said "It'd be great to have Claire back with us, Chris."

"She is anxious to return to her work., sir."

"AS chief? I am sure she can take a break for a while."

"No, sir. Her job with the _viruses_ …"

Adams didn't reply. The man seemed slightly ashamed.

"So you know. I had intended to tell you, but the situation was a little unsuited at the time. Claire return to her research activities could be of use now. Dr. Chambers received a viral sample from the DSO, but it seems she's having problems with it. Claire might be very helpful…"

"It's a new strain, sir?" Jill asked curiously.

"That's what Dr. Chambers believes. However, it seems that she's been having problems handling the sample and that's causing her to have too little progress. IF Claire feels up to it, we would appreciate her assistance."

"She'll jump into it without hesitation…" Chris sighed.

"Hopkins called this morning. He told me about your request to put Claire under SVP."

"Sir, this new group, Mobius, has made clear that Claire is their target. These people are the ones behind the attack in MedCenter. I won't risk it. I am not letting take my sister away again."

"I understand, don't worry. Hopkins and I agree that it is the best move and that putting agent Kennedy on the case is a wise decision. He's the DSO best agent after all. Additionally, a second agent has been assigned to assist him: Helena Harper. We considered that a female agent could come in handy on situations where Kennedy wouldn't be able to interfere."

Chris nodded. That seemed reasonable.

"Also, the DSO have prepared a new monitored apartment for Claire. She'll be staying with agent Kennedy until the threat has been taken care of and we consider that she's safe."

Chris nearly choked. Claire was going to share home with Leon? A side of his brain told him that it was the smartest move. The closer Leon was, the easier it'd be for him to protect her; but another side of him, the one who couldn't help but despise and distrust any men that went to close to her was screaming at the idea of agent with a reputation of lady killer to be staying under the same roof as his baby sister.

He caught on Barry and Jill teasing smiles and he rolled his eyes.

"Now, about your mission…."

"We are looking for any leads to the place where Claire was kept that past 8 months. IT seems that Claire's memories aren't clear enough to give us a location, but we have high reasons that it in a place located between Ireland and Wales. It might be one of the islands in the irish sea or a ship." Jill said " we are tracing possible areas according to estimations taken from Claire's conditions at the time she was found. "

"Locating that is priority. There might be other prisoners that might need rescue. And if there's a viral development we need to shut it down right away."

"Yes, sir."

"When is Claire coming back?"

"In a couple of days, most likely. I'll be coming with her and Leon to makes sure everything is okay and then I'll come back to Wales."

"I understand. I guess that should be all for now. Keep me updated."

"We will, sir…"

With that, Adams's face disappeared from the screen and the three BSAA soldiers sighed.

"Well, that's done…" Barry said stretching his arms behind his back "So it seems Claire will get a new roomie…"

"For the life of me...if Kennedy ever tries a move on her, I swear...I will kick his sorry ass and castrate him."

"Chris...just let her be, would you?" Jill laughed " I seriously doubt Leon would do such a thing "

"Yeah, besides Claire wouldn't hesitate to knock the fuck out of him if he even tried." Barry smirked.

"POint taken...still, I just…"

"Oh, come on…" Jill laughed "and what if he does? Have you ever stopped to think that maybe those two could actually have something?"

"They could what?"

"I actually think they'd make a cute couple." Jill replied crossing her arms " I mean, Leon obviously likes her…"

"He WHAT?"

"You think?" Barry asked "How the hell you know that, Jill?"

"Call it female intuition…" Jill shrugged "You men are just too hard headed to even realize that sort of thing. I mean, I don't think he realizes that himself…"

"Ok, stop right there…."

Chris shook his head at what Jill was implying. Leon couldn't like Claire _that_ way. Jill was probably overthinking it…. But what if she wasn't? What if Leon was indeed interested in Claire that way? Wouldn't putting them in the same place for an indefinite time be like throwing wood to the fire?

"Well...if you think it over, he is not quite a bad match for Claire " Barry said rubbing his chin "Let's see...he's not that bad looking, so their kids would come out nice, besides he has a good job with a good paycheck and most importantly, the man can use a gun…"

"That's what I was thinking…"

"What the fuck are you two talking about?"

"Oh, come on Chris... Admit it. You wouldn't be that against that relationship." Barry laughed " Even my father filter approves him…"

"You two realize we are talking about Leon Kennedy, right?"

"Of course we do " Jill replied "so?"

"Ladies man?"

"Ohhh, I see. It's not that he doesn't approves…" Barry said "He's not sure if the boy will break her heart. You're cute, Chris….and I never imagined myself saying that."

Chris let out a frustrated sigh and and pinched the bridge of his nose. Barry and Jill were totatlly missing the point of the conversation.

"You know what? I'm not talking about this, end of discussion…"

"Or maybe he's scared that Claire will replace him with Leon…" Jill added ignoring the older Redfield.

"Claire wouldn't do that…" Barry chuckled "For god sake, the girl searched him for what? Six months? She loves her brother to much to change him…"

"Yeah, maybe you're right. There has to be a difference between lover and family after all."

"OK. That's it! You two stop it already. I know you're doing it to annoy me and it isn't funny…" Chris groaned " Get a grip on yourselves. I'm going to call Leon and tell them to meet us at that restaurant by the pier. When I come back I expect you two to be normal again…"

Chris walked out of the room irritated. Jill and Barry watched him leave before exchanging smirks.

"Who said we were joking?"

When Chris and company made it to rendezvous, Leon and Claire were sitting on a bench by the pier chatting cheerfully. Claire seemed to be laughing at something Leon had said and Chris couldn't help but remember what Jill and Barry had said; and after staring at the pair for a few minutes, he hated to admit that they did make a nice match. In fact, if he didn't know better, those two could easily pass by a couple.

 _You're letting their words mislead you. You're seeing things._ He kept saying to himself.

Claire was the first to notice them. She smiled brightly at Chris as she waved a him. He saw Leon tell her something and she replied giving him a friendly punch and laughing.

"Hey...how was the meeting?" Claire asked.

"Boring as usual...!" Barry replied grumpily "You know lots of talking…"

"That bad?"

"Adams wanted a report about the events on Med Center." Jill said "Not big deal…"

The mention of the event erased the smile from the younger Redfield replacing it with a grieving look. Chris saw Jill's regretful look instantly. They hadn't mentioned anything about the events in front of her for fear that it might trigger something; and Chris absolutely forbidden everyone to mention anything about Mobius and the reasons behind their attack to her. The last thing they needed was give Claire another reason to beat herself.

"Sorry. I wish I could have helped more people there…"

"Don't worry about it. You gave us data for future reference and that's enough." Chris quickly said shaking his head "We are just glad you're safe and now what's important is keeping that way."

"What are you going to do? Get my a bodyguard?"

"Actually…"

Claire looked at him questiongly and then her eyes glared at him accusingly.

"You didn't…"

"It's for your safety…" Chris replied "We all considered it'd be the best…."

"Seriously?" Putting me with some random guy I don't know at all to…" _protect"_ me?"

"Technically...he's not a random guy…" Barry snorted.

He and Jill stared at each other and burst out laughing.

"What?"

"He's sitting next to you, Claire…"

Claire frowned. She looked at Chris questioning and then her eyes went wide in realization. She quickly turned to Leon accusingly.

"The girl from your new assignment! It was me?"

Chris frowned staring at the pair. Claire had crossed her arms over her chest and she was staring at the blonde with a pout.

"I told you you knew her well." Leon smirked.

"You totally tricked me! Whose idea was this?"

"It was mine, Claire. I offered for the mission." Leon replied "Both Chris and I agreed that you need to be kept safe in case they came after you again."

"I would have done it myself, but still need to so some work for BSAA…" Chris sighed "Leon was the best option…"

Claire let out an annoyed sigh in a way that reminded Chris of the tantrums she used to throw at him when she was younger. It was a small gesture usually reserved to him when he did things she wasn't pleased with him; but her anger wouldn't last too long.

Leon's phone started to ring and he excused himself to attend. Claire glared at him accusingly and he merely smirked at her as he walked away.

"He did it because he is worried about you, Claire. We have reasons to think that the terrorist that kidnapped you will try to abduct you again... "Jill said "He's your brother after all and…"

Chris saw Claire look soften and let out a defeated sigh. She turned to Chris and locked her arm with his as they walked to the restaurant.

"I know, I know...my brother loves me." She whispered "Fine, I guess I can live with it. At least it is Leon and not some foolish amateur agent."

"Yeah, at that you're right…." Chris replied and added in soft voice so that only Claire could hear his words "If he does something that he shouldn't, let me know so that I can teach him a good lesson and…."

"I am a grown woman, Chris. You know I can take care of myself…"Claire replied in the same whisper "Especially when it comes to Leon. We have a buddies' pact...don't worry."

"Buddies…?"

"Yeah, so your overprotective and over jealous brother brain can be at ease." she laughed "I'll be fine. I know Leon, and he would never put "his" moves on me. He knows I will totally kick his ass…"

"Yeah, I know you can; but…"

Chris knew his sister was tough. He taught her everything he could about fighting and she was smart. The proof of her strength was standing in front of him after all. 8 months supposedly dead; eight months in which she had probably gone through a hell, and yet she was there. But she was his baby sister no matter what; it didn't matter if she was nine or seventy.

"I know...you worry; but I'll be okay, alright?" Claire said softly "You focus on those assholes and staying alive. Then you can worry about my non existent love life."

Chris down he knew he couldn't no worry, but Claire was right. Leon was unlikely going to try anything with her -he hoped- , but he would protect her. His goal now was finding Mobius and putting an end to their sick plans.

And Chris promised himself that he would find them; for CLaire's sake and the world's.


	36. Part II: Chapter 16

_Hope you guys like it!_

* * *

 _Leon_

Claire's face had paled, if even possible, more than she already was; the woman had stopped on her tracks out of sudden and for a few seconds, Leon saw her lively eyes turn dull and empty. Concerned by it Leon had tried calling her name, but the woman didn't respond. It was almost as if she was in a place very far away from there;but suddenly, she began walking away with a glassy expression. To Leon it almost felt as if she was in some sort of trance.

All Leon could do was follow the woman as close as he could; Claire's legs seemed to move on their own and Leon felt a pinch of worry in his stomach as the woman walked through the town without noticing anything around her. The agent considered grabbing her arm and stop her, but it wasn't necessary as she stopped on her own. Leon realized that they had reached a small antique shop and that the reason why Claire had come was a small pocket watch that played and old traditional welsh song. Claire knew the song; she even knew the lyrics because _someone_ had taught her; but how did she knew the watch was there?

The only explanation that the blonde agent could come with was that she had- somehow- heard the song and she had followed; but they had crossed half way through the town. There was no way the soft chiming of the tune could be heard from where they had been when Claire had spaced out. It was humanly impossible…..

Humanly, but -he hated how it sounded- Claire might not be entirely human anymore. She was infected by a virus that could have given her some sort of abilities. The truth was, he'd began to suspect when they were sneaking away from the monsters in the dark. Claire knew when the enemy was close, even before Leon could hear their heavy breathing or the ruffling of their steps.

Leon's own thoughts kept him busy as they left the shop and wandered around until they reached the coastal area. The two stood side by side staring at the sea in silence. Leon couldn't tell what thoughts crossed the woman's head, but his head was a messy bunch of thoughts that went from worry to relief and contempt.

"You know. This is probably the first and only time we have done something normal together…" Leon said watching the waves break against the shore "Took us 13 years to have a normal meeting, huh?"

And that wasn't a lie. He still remembered when he had told her that next time bumped with each other he expected they could do it in more normal conditions. It had been ages since then, and they had never had a peaceful and quiet meeting like normal people, until now.

"Has it been that long?" she replied "Wow, we are getting old…"

"You think?"

"Don't worry. The age will just get you more fans…"

Leon snorted and she laughed. The last thing he wanted was more fans. It was enough bad having to deal with Ashley's constant mails or Angela's "causal" calls to ask how he was doing. He looked at Claire and found her lost in thought once more. The soft sea breeze was waving her auburn short locks around her face and she unconsciously tucked one behind her ear. She looked fragile and despite the beaten up signs, Leon couldn't help but think that the soft light from that autumn morning countoured her profile in a very beautiful way.

 _When did I start to look at her so carefully?_

It was a recent thing, he had to admit it. He'd always considered Claire as an attractive woman, perhaps one of the most pretty ones in his list, but he had never really taken the time to reflect on her traits. He knew her; he knew her charms and her personality, and that had been enough to give her that appeal that had attracted him some years ago; however, things seemed to have changed lately. He didn't even know when it had began, but recently he'd been paying a lot of attention to Claire physical traits, too: her pale skin and her beautiful cerulean eyes that were so unlike her brothers; the reddish auburn locks that often fell over her face now that they were short; the pale pink of her lips and the way they seemed to make a slight curve when she smiled; he'd even noticed the faint freckles she had.

He was an observative person; his job demanded it, but he had never paid much attention to that side of her; his fondness for Claire had always been born from her character. Why had it began to change recently?

"Hey, Leon…"she said waking him from his thoughts "Have you ever thought of how life would have been if we had been normal?"

"You mean if Racoon never happened?"

Claire only nodded. The blonde agent's gaze stared at the horizon as he seemed to think the question. He had it wasn't that often, but he sometimes found himself wondering. At the time, he had entered RPD, he was young and naive; he had ilusion about becoming a great cop and maybe getting himself a family eventually.

"I'll be lying if I say no…" Leon finally answered "I've wondered about that in many occasions, to be honest. Where I would be if the events of Racoon never took place. I'd probably be the cop I was meant to be from the beginning. Maybe I'd have been promoted or I would be happily married, with children an a dog. Who knows…"

"I think I could probably picture you." Claire smiled and Leon wondered what she'd seen in her head."Who would think Mr. Pretty boy actually thought of having a family…"

"I may be flirty sometimes, but even I know when to cut off the jokes and take things seriously. What about you Claire?"

"I...don't know…perhaps I'd have a family, too, and we wouldn't know each other."

"Chris would still be in STARS. We would have eventually met when you came to visit or when I made you a ticket for careless driving. …"

"And I would have tried to flirt my way out of it…"she laughed.

"And who knows, it might work…" Leon chuckled "But there's no point in thinking that. Those things can't be changed anymore, but we can still build the future we all wanted once…"

"So you have plans for the future, Mr. secret agent…."

"I won't be an agent forever, Claire; and you know, maybe someday I'll just want to pull out and settle down; get the family I once thought of having and spend lazy afternoons watching the tv with them. "

"I wonder if that certain spy would agree to that arrangement, though…"

"Ada? When did I say that I'd settle down with her, huh?"

"You didn't; but I'm sure it passed your mind." Claire chuckled "I hope you get it though; you deserve it."

"We all deserve it…" Leon corrected "You can't expect to stay in Terra Save forever, do you, Claire?"

"I don't know." she answered.

The conversation ended there; but Leon's mind was busy imagining how Claire's life could be if she wasn't out there fighting to save the world. Claire was a sweet woman despite her amazing fighting skills and her sharp tongue that could intimidate anyone almost as well as her brother's could; unlike Chris, she was loving and motherly in so many ways. He could totally picture her in a family, loving her own children and her husband; she'd be a wonderful mom and a marvelous wife if she could fin a man who understood her sense of humor, he was sure of that. He could only hope that when he decided to settle down, he could do it with some as half as good as she was.

And suddenly, he realized. He was starting to feel attraction to her; not the regular attraction he'd normally felt, the one that came with camaraderie and teasing words. No, it was different sort of question was….what?

"This is a nice place." Claire said stretching her arms.

"Yeah, quiet and peaceful. I've got the feeling that we won't have much of it for a while, so we might as well enjoy it while we can."

"Yeah, I guess once we get back to USA things will get busy. I've got 8 months worth of work to catch up"

"Have it easy, Claire. You don't need to push yourself that much."

"I know everyone worries, but now more than ever I must focus on my work; at least the one with research…" Claire said shaking her head "I wonder who's been helping out BSAA with the analyses…"

"Chambers…" Leon replied "Dr. Chambers has been the one leading the researchers the past 8 months."

"I see...yeah, sounds about right. Rebecca is brilliant…"

Leon knew the woman was. He had had the chance to meet her a while ago when he had crossed paths with Chris who had come to him asking for help with terrorist man named Glen Arias. They'd had their crashes, but at the end they had worked together and put and end to the threat. Leon learned about Chamber's background after reading her profile in the DSO files. The woman was a prodigy medic with great knowledge of medicine and pharmacology. She had been part of the vaccine project for many years; but he knew that she'd been struggling for the past months with what - he had recently figured- was apparently Claire's job. At least, that was what Hunnigan had said at a time.

"Yeah, CHambers is good, but apparently not as good as you."

Leon saw Claire shake her head. The girl had never been very good at taking compliments; she would look down and wave the words away with some modest reply. That was just how she was.

"You are overpraising me, Leon."

"Not really. Don't get me wrong. Chambers is good at what she does, but I've heard the word between colleagues and she's not as fast as you were."

"As my anonymous team, you mean. Well, Rebecca is a medic, she's not exactly trained to deal with the things my team does. It's not her fault…"

"And no one is blaming her. I am just saying, she's not as good as you and your team, that's all…" Leon said with a small smile "Helena and I retrieve a viral sample from a small group in Mexico a few days ago. It is presumed to be a new virus, but it seems Chamber's team has had no luck on reproducing it for study or something like that."

"Oh, she must be struggling to find the target cell…" Claire rmumbled and Leon looked a t her questiongly. Claire had probably seen his uncertainty and the woman was quick to explain" Virions have protein signals on their outer coat that can bind to a receptor protein on the surface of a cell that it will infect. This receptors and protein signals are specific, so some viruses can only infect certain cells in specific."

"Guess that would make sense; and how exactly do you fix that?"

"Well, people would usually test the virion with different cell types and se see how that goes; but that's quite a task and it takes way too much time and money."

"Right, maybe I should have asked what would _you_ do?"

Claire laughed.

"I am a geneticist. Most of my approached would go that way. Proteins are coded by genes, if you can located the protein receptor coding sequence, you can more or less work on it to identificate it and then you can reduce the number of possible receptors."

"Sounds complicated."

"A little, but compared to the losses by doing trying different cell lines, it a lot more efficient if you know how to approach it. I guess I should ask Chris if I can get a hold of a sample of the virus…"

"I am sure they will agree."

"So that was the mission you were before you came here?"

"Yeah."

"You sure have a exciting life."

"You could say that; my new mission doesn't sound like it'd be easy either."

"Oh, can I ask or is it classified?"

"It is classified, but you can ask. It's an escort and guarding mission…."

"Oh, no...your nightmare….you just love those." she teased.

"This one sounds promising though. The subject seems likeable."

"Subject huh? Testosterone or estrogen?"

"It is a she, if that's what you mean."

"I should have guessed it was a female. Pretty girl?"

"She is pretty; has quite a temper and certainly won't like the arrangement. You know, she's the kind of woman who takes care of herself perfectly well…"

"If she's that good, why does she need you as escort."

"Because she tends to worry more about others' safety over hers; and right now she's being targeted by a dangerous group."

"Huh, sounds nasty. I wouldn't like to be in her shoes. You'll do a great job though, and she'll eventually accept you; she'll probably end up crushing over your heroic form like every girl does."

Leon snorted and he pinched the bridge of his nose trying to keep down a laugh. If only she knew that maybe that would have been true a few years before, but now he could be sure that Claire was most likely immune to any of his flirting attempts.

"I don't think that would happen this time."

"What? You know that always happen."

"I don't think there's that kind of attraction…"

"Why? Oh, she likes other woman then?"

Leon wanted to laugh at that.

"No, it's not that. I think she's simply too smart to fall for that."

"Oh, so you know her…"

"Yeah, we might have some story…"

"Oh….don't tell me it is Ada…."

Leon choked. As if Ada would ever need or allow someone to try to guard her.

"No. It is not Ada…"

"Oh, then I have no idea who it might be…"

"You'll find out soon enough."

"Oh, come on…Do I know her?"

"Oh, yeah; you know her very well…"

Maybe too well, considering it was herself; but Leon wasn't going to tell her that. He would give her brother the honor of breaking the news to her. He knew Claire was going to be annoyed, but the woman's annoyance never lasted too long. Claire's temper could be volatile at times, but she was reasonable.

Suddenly, his phone began beeping and he saw Chris's number in the screen. He had forgotten to do his every 10 minutes report and the man was desperate enough to start calling him. It kind of made him want to laugh.

"Hello, Chris…" Leon answered casually.

"Leon, how's Claire doing?"

"She's fine. We are at the beach now. She's enjoying the view; I think she needed the fresh air." Leon said looking at the auburn haired girl that was toying with the pocket watch."How did things go on your end?"

"It went fine. Just debriefing; you'll probably hear it on your side, too….eventually."

"Yes, Hunnigan will probably call me soon."

"I will let her have the honor then. The meeting is over, but there are some things we need to take care off before we can head out for lunch. We can meet up by the pier by 12:00. There's a good place to eat there."

"Sounds good. We'll see you there."

"Alright...see you in in a while, then."

Leon cut off the call and pushed the phone back into his pocket. Claire was staring at him curiously. .

"That was Chris…"

He saw Claire roll her eyes and a smirk came to his lips.

"Please tell me he wasn't check on me…"

"Ok, I won't tell you" Leon smirked "but he also said that they'll meet us at the pier at noon. It's 10 am….so we still have two hours."

"Aren't you bored of following me around?"

"Surprisingly, not at all. I am actually enjoying myself..."

"Ok, who are you and what did you do to Leon?"

Leon laughed at Claire's sudden out burst. Yes, those reactions were exactly what made him like her so much.

"Claire?"

"Yeah?"

"I am glad you're back."

The words had been sincere. He really was. When he had believed her dead, he'd fallen into a deplorable state that could rival Chris's. Claire had grown to be a part of his life that he'd never considered he could ever lose, so the hit had come hard. Having her back was a blessing that he had no words to describe.

"Oh, wow. I had no idea you were so sentimental, Leon…" Claire giggled.

Leon watched Claire as they walked following the shoreline and he caught the glitter of something on her hip. The pocket watch was now safely tucked in her pocket.

" I didn't know you fancied antiques…" he said pointing at the glowing chain that fell out of her pocket.

"I...don't. I really don't know why I bought it, the song perhaps."

"You like folk tunes. " Leon teased "That's another side of you I didn't know. Orchids and folk songs...doesn't sound like you."

"I've got nothing against folk song just...felt familiar."

"You said someone taught it to you…"Leon asked "Mind if I ask you who?"

Claire hesitated and Leon could see that she was considering her answer.

"I don't know…" she finally reply "My mind is a mess, Leon. There are things I can remember well and things that just seem to be missing; then there images that keep popping in my head, but I just can't make any sense of them…" Claire said with frustrated voice "Look at what happened at the MedCenter, for example. I can't really remember what I went through the past eight months, but I could remember those monsters. I remembered meeting them and running away from them, too. I knew what to do because I had done it before...I knew their behavior and their weaknesses; but I just can't remember when or why I know welsh. Isn't that stupid?"

"No, it isn't." Leon replied.

"Then there's this song…" Claire added taking out the pocket watch and opening it so that the melody played as they kept walking "I saw a...memory, perhaps? I was in some sort of garden. There were roses, red as blood and I was sitting in bench staring at this box; a music box made of brass, old and worn. I wasn't alone, though. There was a man with me, but I couldn't see his face; all I saw was a blur as we were talking. He told me he had made the box for his daughter and he said he could teach the song, so that I could sing it to my children when I was out…"

"Out?"

"From the asylum. At least, I think it was an asylum or a hospital of some kind. If only I could remember something that wasn't so general…" she sighed "It'd help Chris find that place."

Claire sat on a large boulder that stood in the line between the sand and the green grass land. Her cerulean gaze was staring at the horizon while her hands were playing absently with the oversized sleeves of the BSAA themed jacket. Leon took the hint and sat quietly by her side.

"It's okay if you don't remember…" he said quietly.

The truth was that Leon had been curious about the topic ever since the hospital incident, but he'd not asked, because he feared the effect it would have on her. He figured that Claire would eventually tell him.

"No, it is not okay. Leon, we were lucky that I could remember those things…" she said softly "What if I didn't? We wouldn't have made it...you could be dead like everyone else...just because I didn't remember."

"Claire, you can't blame yourself about it. There was no way you'd know those things would attack us…"  
"But in a way...I did. I sensed them. I knew they were around, but I was too slow to react…"

"You're only human, Claire. You saved me from messing up and getting myself killed by those things. You helped us kill them...you showed us the way…" Leon said firmly "Sometimes we can't save everyone…"

Claire didn't reply, her look was lost in the endless sea of black waters; but Leon saw sadness and guilt in expression and he fought the impulse to grab her hand.

"You know what's the worst of all…?" she said in a soft whisper "There is morer. I can remember every monster I faced at some point; the feelings attached to them...fear, anger...hopelessness… I can even remember how I fought them; how I beated them or how much it hurt if they caught me in the dark…"

So that was it. Leon now understood why Claire was so afraid of the dark, when she didn't care before.

"Claire...that…"

"I don't know when or why I faced them. I just know I did… and it was always dark and cold when I did. They can't stand the light, so it makes sense...right?" she replied "There are more like them, Leon. There are others much more dangerous. What if they come next and I can remember on time?"

Leon could see what Claire was trying to say. She had the power to save many lives, but at the same time, she couldn't trust she'd be able to use it when the time came. Claire was a saviour by nature. Unlike him or her brother, she wasn't a warrior. She fought, yes, but only if she couldn't help it; Claire's heart was always focused on saving and protecting; the weight of knowing that she had the key of saving or killing was a heavy one.

Hadn't he felt hopeless when he had failed to save innocent lives before? His comfort at the time was knowing he'd tried all he could and that as much as he'd have liked it, there was no way he could have prevented it; but Claire dilemma was different, because she _knew_ , but at the same time she didn't. He put aside his reservations and took Claire's hand affectionately. Unlike the delicate hands of many other women, her hands were scarred by old and new scars and Leon did not want to imagine the cause of the most recent ones.

"It won't be your fault…" he said softly "It'd never be your fault. If there's someone we should blame that's the people who are behind all this. You're a victim, Claire. Not a culprit…"

"I know you're right; but I can't help it. Sometimes I'm just..."

"Scared? I am scared, too. Each time something like that happens I am scared. We all are, but hey...I'm here for you."

Leon meant his words; not because he was her newly appointed bodyguard, but because he was her friend. Claire had been there for him many times before and if she needed him, he didn't mind crushing some heads and kicking some asses just to be with her.

"Leon... that's kind of you, but I believe you're way too busy with your own business to deal with mine."

"Claire, I can make your business mine if I have to…"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means I care and I can't say I understand, because I didn't go through what you did; but I am willing to hear you if you need someone to listen. I don't mind answering your calls at 2 am if you wake up from a nightmare or if you just need someone to chat. I will make the time for it..."

"But what about your girl? I don't intend to take your attention from her; she's your assignment...she's much more important. "

Leon smiled at the irony; if only she knew that he was more than willing to give her his attention whether she was or not his assignment.

"You won't, I can promise you that…"

Claire looked at him and she eventually smiled. Just like before, it seemed that Claire's mood could change in blink. She wasn't like that before, but then again, she hadn't been tormented by missing memories and memories filled with unpleasant things.

"Sometimes you are too much like, Chris…" she chuckled.

"I'm not as buff as him...and I have a much better temper…"

"Oh, he became grumpy with the years. He was a goof when he was younger...and overprotective goof."

"That hasn't changed much…"

"Yeah, but it isn't only him. I don't know why everyone suddenly seems to be so overprotective about me…"

"I can list you several reasons for that, and one is pretty obvious…"

"That I was dead for 8 months?"

That was, probably, the most important reason. They had lost her once and no one was willing to lose her again. At least, for Leon, he wasn't going to fail at protecting her this time.

"Was it really that bad?" she asked absently "Me gone?"

Bad was an understatement. No one had noticed the part Claire played in everyone's lives until she was no longer there. He had lost a friend, a confidant and someone who knew and understood him and the world had lost a brilliant person who fought for the future.

"We had it bad…" he replied frankly. He remembered that the first months he had hidden himself in his job; taking mission after mission and stopping only to pay Claire's memorial a visit every now and then. Hunnigan had been frantic and worried about the man's wellness. It had taken him a lot of time to accept the fact that Claire was gone.

"I can understand it from Chris. I'd be the same if I lost him…" Claire said thoughtful "but you, too?"

" I can be quiet protective of the people I _love_ …" Leon admitted. He loved her, didn't he? "it's part of my charm…"

"I know, charmer." she smiled at him "Don't tell Chris about this, okay? I will tell him, eventually. I just don't want him to go in berserk because of me…"

"My lips are sealed which means I just got another con added to your brother's list." Leon said following her close by.

"Ah, he doesn't have a list...I think. "

"He is a big brother. He definitely has one for each guy that is your acquaintance. All big brothers have. "

"Oh...sounds like someone who knows from experience."

"I might have dated a couple of girls with big brothers when I was in highschool…"

"Oh, so you _do_ have experience…" Claire burst laughing.

"Chris's list of me must be about 20 pages long…"

"Why are you worried about Chris's list anyway?"

"Hey, you never know. Maybe..."

Leon stopped in mid-sentence; he had been about to say that they never knew if maybe someday they would get married and if that happened he wanted to be on Chris's good side; but then he had realized the implications of that comment and found himself silenced by the shock.

 _Did I just thought about marrying Claire?_

There had to be something about Wales that was messing with his head. Ever since he had arrived, his mind had been playing him dirty tricks, especially when it came to Claire

"Leon, are you listening to me?"

Leon snapped out from his trance and stared at her surprised.

"Sorry...what?"

"Look who's having a flashback now…" Claire teased him "I was saying….that we should go to the marketplace."

"Ah, right...sorry I was, spacing out."

"I noticed. Are you sure you're not getting bored of following me around?"

"Nah, my mind was thinking improper things."

"Do I want to ask?"

Leon frowned. He couldn't actually tell her what he'd been thinking about, could he?

"Never mind; come on."

Leon found that spending the morning doing random tourism with Claire was probably the most enjoyable thing he had ever had to do during a mission. It wasn't the first time he had gone "shopping" with an assignment. In his early years as an agent, he had escorted Ashley several times, but in those cases he had just followed her around. With Claire things were certainly different and he was having fun.

It didn't feel like he was guarding her, but rather like they were two good friends on a silly vacation. They joked and laughed and Claire even convinced him to take some random pictures with her. It felt natural and it was as if Claire had never been gone.

After running around like a pair of silly tourists for about an hour and a half, they finally headed to the pier. Claire and Leon sat on a bench waiting for Chris and the others to appear. Claire was happily browsing through the pictures they had taken and giggling like a little girl.

"Oh I hate you so much. How can you always look good in the pictures…"

"It's a passive ability…"

"I see, is the lack modesty a passive ability, too?"

"Why being modest when you know it is true."

Claire rolled her eyes, but smiled nevertheless.

"Oh, this one is nice. I like it…"

"You look good in that one…"

"Well thank you…"

"So...the score goes Me: 20 vs You:1."

"Oh...come on…!" she laughed punching his arm playfully.

Leon laughed as well, but he soon noticed the group of BSAA uniforms that were heading their way. He patted Claire's arma and pointed at Chris who was walking to them followed by Jill and Barry.

"Hey...how was the meeting?" Claire asked.

"Boring as usual...!" Barry replied grumpily "You know lots of talking…"

"That bad?"

"Adams wanted a report about the events on Med Center." Jill said "Not big deal…"

Leon automatically looked at Claire and he saw the glow of happiness that had been there for the past hours disappear instantly, replaced by a grieving blankness; and unconsciously, his hand rubbed her back in a comforting way.

"Sorry. I wish I could have helped more people there…"

"Don't worry about it. You gave us data for future reference and that's enough." Chris quickly said shaking his head "We are just glad you're safe and now what's important is keeping it that way."

"What are you going to do? Get me a bodyguard?" she sighed.

"Actually…"

Leon saw Claire stare at her brother questionly, and soon that curious look evolved into an accusing look. Chris shook his head and crossed his arms.

"You didn't…"she said.

"It's for your safety…" Chris replied "We all considered it'd be the best…."

"Seriously?" Putting me with some random guy I don't know at all to…" _protect"_ me?"

Leon felt the urge to let out a cough, but he restrained. Well, he wasn't a random guy, was he?

"Technically...he's not a random guy…" Barry snorted saying the exact words Leon had been thinking.

Leon watched Barry and Jill stare at each other and burst out too was feeling the urge to laugh, but he kept his stoic mask in place and watched Claire 's reaction as Barry revealed the identity of her new bodyguard. Claire had frowned and pouted and then she had looked at him offended and accusingly. The look on her face was priceless and Leon found it rather cute. Especially when the younger Redfield realized that the "subject" they had been talking about earlier was actually her.

"The girl from your new assignment! It was me?"

"I told you you knew her well." Leon smirked in defense.

"You totally tricked me! Whose idea was this?"

"It was mine, Claire. I offered for the mission." Leon replied "Both Chris and I agreed that you need to be kept safe in case they came after you again."

"I would have done it myself, but still need to so some work for BSAA…" Chris sighed "Leon was the best option…"

Claire let out an annoyed sigh making obvious how pissed she was with the two men. Suddenly, Leon's phone started to ring; the screen lit up showing Hunnigan's number and he had to thank the woman for her good timing. He would let the brother handle the fire and he would come later to work with the leftovers. He excused himself as he smirked at Claire's glare.

Leon walked as far as he could from the group before picking the call. He made sure it was a secured place and that there were not unwanted ears spying on him.

"Good timing, Hunnigan. I think you might have saved me from Claire's fury…."

If Hunnigan was surprised by his greeting, she didn't showed it.

"I take, Ms. Redfield wasn't too fond of the plan."

"I already expected it…." Leon replied "So what's new?"

"I have your orders, Leon. I just called to give your instructions…"

"Sounds good…"

"You sound in an awfully good mood, Leon. That's a little unlike you."

"Not really. So what are my orders?"

"Right. We have prepared an apartment for you and Ms Redfield when you return to the USA. You'll be her guardian 24/7 until the threat is taken care of."

"So I'll be living with Claire?"

Chris was going to love that.

"Yes, you will. Agent Harper will stay in a neighbor apartment as well. Due to the Ms. Redfield's situation, the case needs to be handled carefully. The higher ups considered that the best course of option was to keep her undercover."

"Undercover?"

"Claire Redfield will need to stay dead for a while longer." Hunnigan explained "Changing her identity will difficult her location, hence she'll be safer."

"Well, I guess that's reasonable. What's her new alias?"

He heard Hunnigan let out an amused chuckle. Hunnigan was laughing; in all his years, he had never heard her laugh during a debriefing.

"What's so funny?"

"Oh, nothing. I just hope you don't mind doing some acting as well."

"Acting? Why?"

"Because, from today on until this business is resolved, you are happily married to Mrs. Clara Driscoll…"

Leon almost dropped the phone. Married? What was that supposed to mean?

"What?"

"That's her new alias. Clara Kennedy nee Driscoll. A welsh biologist and your _wife._ "

Leon was in shock. That was certainly something he hadn't expected; if Chris loved the idea of he and Claire living together, now he was going to explode. The blonde agent pinched the bridge of his nose trying to organize his thoughts.

"Ok, let me see if I get this…" he mumbled "I am supposed to pose as Claire's husband? How's that supposed to work? Everyone in the office know I am not married…"

"We already took care of that. Documents are in order and agent Harper and I already spread the rumor that you are on your honeymoon in Wales, visiting your wife's relatives." Hunnigan said in an amused voice.

"Why do I feel like you're having fun with this?"

"It's something different from what you usually do, but it seemed like a perfect alibi"

"Couldn't you invent something else? I don't know...like we were family or something?"

"Your familiar registry is in the database, Leon, and since you would be living together, the best excuse we could use was marriage."

Claire was going to be pissed.

"You'll receive a package in a few hours. We already hacked the Welsh registry and and registered Clara's data. Inside the package you should find her new ID, passport, birth certificate and college titles. Also her new bank account and of course, your marriage certificate. It is legally registered in the USA system."

"So we're, technically , legally married?"

"According to law, yes. Don't worry, once the matters are fixed, we'll take care of the registry...unless, of course, you don't want to."

"What?"

This wasn't what he had meant when he had thought about having a family someday. Leon took a deep breath. The marriage was fake, it wasn't like he was marrying Claire for real, at least not sentimentally speaking. THey just had to pretend in front of the public; but how the hell was he going to explain it to Claire?

"It's for her safety."

"Okay, I get it."

"Agent Harper is already securing the apartment where you'll live. I'm sending the blueprints to your phone so that you can review it. She will meet with you at the airport when you return."

"Yeah, right…" he said abscently as he was trying to figure a tactful way to tell Claire about their new arrangement. SHe might have been able to accept him as her bodyguard, but how would she take the news that, not only she had to change her name, but she was now apparently married to him.

"Leon?"

"Yeah? I got it. I'll make the proper preparations for our departure, then."

"Very well. Good luck, Leon…"

Luck. Yes, that was what he needed if he was going to survive the fury of two Redfields.


	37. Part II: Chapter 17

More goofyness.

Hope you enjoy it. THanks for all the reviews and comments. They cheer me to keep writing.

* * *

 _Claire_

Her day had been uneventful and enjoyable and Claire had wondered several times if she wasn't actually dreaming it all. Perhaps she'd soon wake up in her lonely white room like she had done so many times before and that was mainly the reason why she hadn't been able to lay down to sleep despite her exhaustition.

If this was another of her delusional dreams, perhaps she didn't want to wake up from it. This dream was simply perfect: her friends were there, her brother was there. SHe had to make sure it was real, and so she had stayed up writing on her new journal in her well lit room. She had bought the notebook earlier in the market. Leon had helped her pick it and he had even bothered to leave her a random message in the first page.

She began by retelling her day, from the overeaten breakfast to the her bickering lunch. She had been slightly annoyed at the time, but the anger had passed and after thinking about it with a cooler mind, she could see what both Chris and Leon had wanted to do by putting her under a protection program. She couldn't blame Chris. She was his only family, and he had spent 8 months torturing himself for her death. Now that she was back and relatively sane, he just wanted to tuck her under his wing and fend off anything that tried to come too close to her. Hadn't she been a little like that when she had crossed half the world looking for him when she was younger? She couldn't be mad a her brother for wanting to keep her safe.

With Leon things weren't that different, she knew the man intentions weren't different from her brother's, but she couldn't help but feel annoyed that the blonde agent had tricked her instead of telling her from the beginning she was his assignment; her anger had long passed, and now she could only laugh at her foolishness. After all, teasing her like that was something that was simply...so Leon.

" _Everyone is so protective of me now. It feels strange. I was on my own for so long and now it feels like no one wants to take their eyes off from me…"_

 _Can you blame them?_

Her younger doppelganger was sitting at the foot of the bed. Her arms and legs crossed and the long ponytail falling over her shoulder.

Claire had told Leon she had hallucinations sometime; but that she had been okay lately. She didn't tell him that there was a regular hallucination that never went away, no matter if she felt well or wrong.

" _No, I certainly can't. If you lost something, and that something suddenly returned, you'll obviously want to keep it safe...it's natural."_

 _But the closer they get, the more in danger they'll be. From the demons, from_ them _and from you…_

Her doppelganger whispered quietly. Her eyes were staring at the room's wall.

" _From me...I can't trust myself anymore, can I?"_

 _They're still there. Lurking and waiting for the chance to come out. What will you do?_

" _I don't know. How do I fight something I can't understand?"_

 _What's there to understand. They're inside and they want to come out. They're waiting for you to give up...let yourself fall, like the others did… the question is , will you?_

" _It's hard…"_

 _No one said it'll be easy; but we have made it this far, haven't we?_

Claire didn't answer. She stared at her hallucination with the pen held firmly in her hand, as if staring at herself would somehow give her answers.

 _You told him._

" _He wanted to know…"_

 _But he might have thought you were crazy._

" _I hoped he wouldn't"_

 _Hoped….how do you know he doesn't think it now?_

" _Am I crazy?"_

 _I don't know. Are you?_

" _You're always so cryptic…"_

 _So are you. I am you, too. Don't forget that._

Claire sighed. She really had to be crazy if she was actually arguing with herself. She never had the chance to answer since a knock at the door made the illusioon go away.

"Come in…"

The door opened and to her surprise, Leon stepped into the room quietly. He looked around curiously.

"I thought you were talking with someone…"

"Just talking to myself…" Claire replied knowing that Leon had no idea how literal the statement was "It's late, what are you doing around? Shouldn't you be sleeping?"

"Shouldn't you…?"

"Too much adrenaline on me…" Claire said shaking her head "I can't sleep. Did you come to check on me, bodyguard?"

Leon smirked at the last statement. He shook his head and sat down on the man put down the small package he'd been holding under his arm.

"Came to tell you about the assignment."

"We are discussing my security measures, then…" Claire frowned "I think I know protocols, Leon. Don't breathe, don't eat, don't move….right?"

"Not quite…"Leon replied shaking his head with a smile " There are some...special aspects in this case."

"Special?"

"The higher ups considered better to keep your return secret."

"That makes sense…" Claire nodded "So let me guess, I'll be going undercover…"

"You don't miss a thing, huh?"

"I've learned a thing or two."

"I'll be staying with you since I'm supposed to be your guard 24/7…"

"Yey, we are roomies…"Claire said sarcastically.

"Additional to that, there'll be another agent watching over you. Her name is Helena Harper, you'll meet her when we arrive to the USA."

"Great, now I have two shadows. Anything else I should know?

"This is your new identity…" he said passing her a folder "Hiwamura said she'll help you with the image arrangement."

"Please tell me I won't be blonde…"

"You're keeping your pretty red locks, Claire. Don't worry about that…"

Claire picked the folder and began eyeing it.

"Clara Driscoll. So I am welsh now? " she said amused "We'll I am still a biologist. That's nice. Wait...it says I am married…"

"Yes, you are…"

"You know there's a problem in there. To be married means I have a husband. As far as I know I don't have one…."

Leon let out a chuckle.

"You do…"

"Huh? Who….? You?" Claire said rolling her eyes.

"Way too smart…" Leon smirked pulling her hand dropping the wedding rings into her ring finger "Mrs. Kennedy."

Claire choked. She stared at his hand hand and then at Leon in disbelief.

"What?"

"You're officially married to me, Claire...or should I say Clara?" he said showing her his own ringed hand.

"You've got to be kidding me…" Claire said covering her face with her hand.

She could sense Leon laughing silently. Of course he would find it amusing. Married? To him, nevertheless. Was this any kind of sick joke planned by Saya?

 _Don't say you don't like it. You wanted to have more time with him, didn't you?_

The comment was unwelcomed. It wasn't helping her inner turmoil at the moment. Claire took a deep breath and began pacing around the room.

"We'll be posing as newly weds and you'll be working under DSO. No one in the organization knows you, so it'd be safer than putting you on BSAA or Terra Save of course. You'll still have access to your team and your lab, don't worry; but as far as you're concerned you're a DSO agent like me. Right now, I'm supposed to be on my honeymoon in Wales right now."

"Oh, god...whose twisted mind came with this idea?"

"Don't ask me…"

"Chris is gonna be pissed. He's going to kill you. Wait, that was why you were so worried about being in Chris's list?"

"Not exactly, but Chris already knows and surprisingly he was quite acceptant. Besides,if he wants to kill someone, he might as well kill his boss."

"You're telling me Chris agreed to my «marriage»?"

"Well, I had to stand 2hours of lecturing and threats while Jill and Barry were laughing themselves to death in the background, but yes."

Claire couldn't take it and she just burst into a laugh. That was so Chris. He had done the same several times before. She still remembered the poor kid who had come for a study session when she was in eighth grade; Chris made a completely interrogatory about his family, criminal record and intentions. She should have been furious, but she remembered that she had just found the situation completely hilarious. The kid was left so traumatized that he never came to her house again. She couldn't picture Christ putting Leon through all that.

"You seem amused. I assume this isn't the first time he does something like that." Leon said with a frown.

"Yup, he did it all the time. I just can't imagine him doing it to you, though. Tell me Jill recorded it…"

"You should ask her. I was too busy listening to your brother to notice…"

The two laughed. Somehow that made Claire feel much better. It wasn't a big deal, it wasn't a real marriage, they were just acting. Why would she get so worked up about it?

"If Chris was fine with it, then you're safe." Claire giggled "But I am worried about myself…"

"What for? It's not like he's going to do something…"

"Nott Chris. Your fans…"

"My what…"

"Let's be realistic. I am 100% sure that all the young ladies at your office are head over heels about you. Now I show up being your wife? They're going to eat me alive."

"You'll barely be in there anyway, and besides...you sure can take them."

"Ah...you have no idea." Claire dropped herself back on the bad and looked at him "So...Mrs. Kennedy...oh, lord. That's sure going to take some used to…"

"You'll make it. Hiwamura will come tomorrow to help you with the change of looks."

"Oh, god...she's going to torture me, isn't she?"

"I don't think so...she said you never use makeup, so a little makeup, lenses and hair extensions should work wonders."

"Yeah, she's going to torture me. I spend 7 years running away from her fashion madness and you guys just threw me to her hands. "

"7 years?"

"Long story."

Claire looked at her, now ringed, hand. The ring was pretty, made of silver and with brilliant diamond; it looke quite real.

"So, dear husband of mine. Who bought the ring…" Claire said teasingly.

"I guess it was Hunnigan?" Leon shrugged "or Helena, who knows...why?"

"Oh, no. Nothing...I just thought it really looked real. I'm not a fan of diamonds but, this is pretty."

"There I thought all women loved diamonds…"

"Most would, I just prefer emeralds."

"I'll keep it mind for our anniversary…" Leon snorted.

"Ha,ha...very funny." Claire said throwing him a pillow "It's getting late. You should go to bed, Leon."

"You, too. You must be tired anyway. I'll see you in the morning."

Leon got back on his feet and walked out of the room, leaving her alone once more. Claire watched the closed door for a few minutes before looking back at the rings in her hand.

 _Married...wouldn't it be nice if it was real?_

Claire took a deep breath and ignoring the voice in her head she laid on her back trying to sleep.

Morning came accompanied by a light shower; Claire hadn't slept much; her dreams had been stalked by shadowy figures that she couldn't recognize, but feared nevertheless. She had waited until the sun was out before abandoning the safety the her illuminated room provided. The corridors from BSAA base were deserted except for the few soldiers that had the early morning shifts that walked around holding mugs filled with either coffee or tea.

Claire made her way to the eating hall and paced around the coffee table thinking of what she should drink when she felt someone pat her shoulder.

"No caffeine for you, honey." Saya said sternly.

"I wasn't going to…" Claire said honestly "I was wondering which tea I should pick today."

"Peppermint or wild berries are good.." Saya suggested "I hate to say it Claire, but you look terrible."

"Geez, thank you…" Claire said pouring the hot water into the cup and adding the small tea bag "Didn't have a good night…"

"Nightmares?"

"Psychosis…" Claire sighed.

"You know that's not an answer."

"I kept waking up every hour feeling that someone was with me, I could almost see the shadowy figures moving around me…" Claire replied "I was half asleep so not surprise in there, but...it made me restless."

"I see…" Saya said thoughtful "Biscuit?"

Claire grabbed the pastry and put it on her plate. Both women walked to a corner in the hall and sat on the table that faced a wide window.

"Why didn't you ask your husband to make you company?"

Claire choked with the tea. Some of the hot drops fell on her lap and she quickly cleaned herself with a napkin.

"I could swear you were the one who suggested that plan, Saya."

"Hey, I'd love to take the credit, but no. I am not sure who was the genius who did that."

"Right, what's so genius about Leon and I faking a marriage."

"You two pair of lovebirds are to fool to realize your feelings for each other, this should give it a push…"

"Excuse me…" Claire frowned "Since when…? God, Saya. It was crush and old teenage crush…"

"Is it? Well, is it really like that or you're in denial?"

"Denial of what?"

"That you actually still have a thing for certain agent…?"

"Saya, I am smart enough not to go after Leon. That's doomed to fall into a heartbreak…"

"And you know this because…?"

"It's Leon. His heart and head are somewhere else…" Claire replied sipping her tea.

"Of course he is, and that's exactly why he came every month after you disappearance to leave a bouquet of fresh orchids under your picture in the memorial wall…"

"He did…? Why? "

"You're asking me?"

"We are friends. It was a friendly gesture…"

"Every month, Claire...orchids. Not even your brother did that."

"Chris has a coping mechanism that either throws him into full work mode or full drinker mode. I don't see anything rare on that…"

"I'm just saying, that maybe this is just a sign for you to give it a try…"

"Give it a try?"

"Just saying. By the way, we have a girls date today…"

"Augh…" Claire sighed dramatically "Yeah, Leon already told me about my makeover…"

"Oh, husband already told you?"

"Can you stop saying it like that?"

"Anyway, Jill is going to help, too. God knows we need all the female work for this."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"That you, honey, can kiss your tomboyish look good bye."

"You're brewing a recipe to disaster."

"Wouldn't be that sure… Jill, over here!"

Jill who had just picked her cup of coffee and muffin saw them and smiled. The blonde woman walked to them and sat by Claire's side cheerfully.

"You two are certainly early." she smiled " Ready for today's mission?"

"Claire here doesn't look too happy about it."

"It'd be fun, Claire. "

"What's fun about you using me like a doll?"

"We'll just make you prettier and have the whole world envy Leon for his new bride.."

"Good lord, are you going to keep rubbing it on my face?"

Both Jill and Saya laughed.

"You are already wearing the ring though" Jill observed "It's pretty…"

"Well, it's not like I have a choice…" Claire replied biting her cookie.

"And where are the gentlemen?"

"Chris was speaking to Leon, hopefully he's not giving him another lecture…" Jill laughed "Don't worry. I left Barry with them, I'm sure he can restrain Chris if necessary…"

"Poor Leon…" Claire said rolling her eyes "So, what's exactly the plan today?"

"Simple. Hair and makeup." Saya replied.

"I won't be dying my hair."

"Who said you had to?" Jill smiled "Last time I checked Mrs. Kennedy was a ginger…"

"Not you, too, Jill.." CLaire rolled her eyes once more "You guys realize this all an act, right?"

"Yes, we know; but that doesn't mean we can't enjoy it." Jill answered "And I am happy to get a break from the excess of testosterone that surrounds me, for a change."

"Poor thing…"

Claire sighed and kept eating her tea and humble breakfast; while paying no attention to the conversation taking place between Jill and Saya. She bit another cookie and suddenly it was as if the earth under her feet was pulled from her and her ears had been filled by some kind of void. Everything around became a blur and suddenly, she found herself sitting on a cold tiled floor at the center of a large empty hall.

Claire looked around confused at how she had arrived there; she had been having breakfast with Jill and Saya and suddenly she was in a completely different place. Looking around she realized she was wearing a white gown that was splattered in red stains. Her hands too were covered in a thick red liquid and the ferric smell filled her nostrils making her want to throw up. She began hearing murmurs; soft whispers that came from nowhere and then a loud voice: cold, demanding and unknown; but the sound of it sent chills all over her body.

" _So she made it...not bad. It seems we were right to get her. She might be ready for stage 2, make the proper preparations…increase the dosage of psychotropics and put her back into isolation."_

Stage 2. Why did that sound so familiar? She heard a soft click from a lock being opened and suddenly, a pair of tall figures hidden by the shadows walked in. She wanted to back up, but her legs were suddenly to weak to respond. One of the figures stretched its hand and grabbed her shoulder; and then…

Claire snapped, accidentally knocking the cup of tea to the floor where it crashed and broke into several pieces. The two women sitting by her side stared at her surprised. Claire's heart was beating fast and it took her a couple minutes to remember where she was and then, she realized that the hand on her shoulder was actually Chris's.

"Jesus, you almost gave her a heart attack, Chris…" Barry blurted.

Claire looked around. The hall wasn't empty; it was full of soldiers eating and chatting cheerfully. She looked down at her hands and, to her relief, they were clean.

Chris was crouched in front of her. His face was filled with worry and that made her feel guilty.

"Claire?"

"S...sorry, I think I might have dozed off…" she laughed off "You kind of startled me…"

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I didn't sleep that well last night, so I guess I kind of fell asleep for bit.." Claire quickly nodded.

"Maybe you should take a nap, honey…" Saya suggested "It's still quite early, if you're tired…"

"Nah, I'm fine. Sorry I scared you…"

"Okay, but if you feel like you need to sleep, do it, alright?"

"I will, Chris. Don't worry…" Claire looked around and she realized that Leon wasn't around "Weren't you with Leon?"

"Well look at that…" Barry laughed "less than 24h married and she's already so concerned…"

Claire rolled her eyes while Chris began glaring daggers at the older man; but Barry was way too experienced to be intimidated by Chris and he simply laughed.

"We were checking the blueprints of the your new place this morning. We found some blind points so he went to tell his friend to fix it up…"

At least he hadn't been lecturing the poor man.

"Oh, I see. So is my bunker cosy enough?" Claire asked.

"You'll be fine with it…" Chris shrugged "You three are going out?"

"No, we'll be doing this on Jill's room. We already got the tools yesterday." Saya replied.

"What are you guys doing in the meantime?"

"We'll be reviewing possible locations. Leon is helping out so, we might be able to pinpoint something…"

"Try with psychiatric hospitals…" Claire said and Chris looked at her.

"Psychiatric ?"

"I think it was a psychiatric asylum. The place I was, I mean..." she replied looking at Chris..

"We'll see if we find anything. You three have fun, I suppose…"

"More like they will have fun at making me suffer…"

"Don't be silly, Claire. It'd be worthy…" Jill said "We'll take good care of her, Chris. Don't worry. When you see her later today, even you won't recognize her…"

"Right... "

Chris patted his sister's shoulder and Claire considered begging him to save her from whatever torture that two other women were preparing for her; but she bit her lower lip and sighed in resignation.

It couldn't be that bad, could it?


	38. Part II: Chapter 18

This is more a filler chapter than anything but still hope you'll enjoy it.

* * *

 _Jill_

She couldn't remember when had been the last time she had some girls-only time ; perhaps it had been before the events of Racoon; when her life could actually be considered normal. However, now that the opportunity came, she was delighted that Saya had asked her to help with Claire's change of image. Both women had gone shopping the day before and they had bought all makeup, accessories and hair extensions that matched Claire's auburn hair for their little project.

Claire was a pretty woman, but having grown surrounded mostly by men, she'd grown to be a little tomboyish. Of course, she had her small feminine traits, but she wasn't someone who worried about her hair or wearing makeup unless it was extremely necessary, and even then, she would only use eyeliner and some lip gloss. In this case, that actually worked much in their advantage; since it meant that with the right touches, Claire would look different enough to not be easily recognized.

"Auch…" Claire complained as Saya was busy putting the extension clips on her head.

"Sorry…" Saya had said "There, first one set."

"You know, that really looks good on you, Claire…" Jill smiled looking at the new layer of wavy auburn waves that fell over the woman's shoulders "Did anyone ever told you that you should wear the hair down more often…?"

"Surprisingly...yes." Claire replied looking at her new hair.

"Oh, it wasn't Wallace, was it? His opinion can't be counted since he's way too biased."

"No, it wasn't Wallace…" Claire said annoyed " Actually it was Leon, 8 months ago. How much longer?"

"Stay still, I'm almost done…" Saya replied "There...all set. Oh, look at you. We haven't even started and you already look like someone new."

"I doubt adding hair really changes me that much…"

"No, it's true. I mean, the style is favorable for you…"Jill smiled "and green eyes really suits you too. It makes you look very irish…"

"I am supposed to be welsh…"

"It's the same thing. All of them are celtic…" Jill laughed "Now, let me put that make up…"

"Do I really have to?"

"Yes, you do…"

Claire sighed in defeat as Jill began working.

"I feel stupid. This is a bad idea…"

"Claire, you're looking great so far. How can it be a bad idea?"

"Because everyone will think this is ridiculous...that's why…"

"No one will think that. Believe me, I bet Leon's colleagues will be envious after they see you…" Saya laughed.

" And Chris will have to start kicking some BSAA asses when those soldiers start following you around…"

"Oh, I'm sure Leon will kick some, too… she's his wife, no?"

Jill and Saya giggled like two teenage girls and Claire frowned.

"You sound like high schoolers."

"And you like a grumpy granny…"

Jill smirked as she watched Claire and Saya exchange a couple arguments. It was nice to have a an all girls chat for a change; and perhaps it was the perfect opportunity for her to satisfy some of her own curiosity.

"So….Leon commented on your hair before?"

"It was a random comment. It was when we were kidnapped; just a little before you came for us." Claire shrugged "Leon is a flirt, so I don't really take his compliments too seriously…"

"Are you sure? I was under the impression that he was rather serious when it came to you..." Saya said crossing her arms.

"I'm not sure about that..." Claire shrugged "but if he does it must be because we are friends."

"Oh, come on. We are among ladies right now, so why aren't you honest, Claire?" Jill said.

"Honest about what?"

"Well about...you know…"

"I know?"

"Leon…" Jill said.

"What about him?"

"Oh, please...about your relationship… Like how things are between you two."

"Between us? Jill, like I said, we are friends...we've always been. I save his butt and saves mine...that's pretty much how it goes."

"I wasn't talking about that. You know, there is a reason why Chris seems to freak out about him when it comes to you, Claire…"

"Chris freaks out about everyone, and then you ask were I learned to be a paranoid…"

"I know Chris, and it isn't paranoia, Claire."

"Okay, fine...I had a crush on him when I was nineteen and I made the stupid mistake of letting Chris know...big deal." Claire pouted " I was a stupid teen in a city filled with zombies and quite hot cop on my side. You would have crushed on him too…"

"And there you admit he was hot. Are you sure that little crush isn't still there?"

"God, I just said he was handsome once, and that was because you asked...does that automatically mean I still like him?"

"No, but it means you find him attractive…" Jill laughed "You know, I really think you two could make quite a pair…"

"Leon doesn't like me that way, okay? End of the story…"

"How do you know that? He was pretty messed up when you disappeared. I mean, Chris was bad; but Leon wasn't too far behind…" Jill said "I heard from his operator…"

"Leon gets a little depressed sometimes...it's not the first time he goes in that mode."

"And don't forget the orchids…"

That caught her attention. Jill looked at Saya curiously.

"Orchids?"

"Yeah, the man bought a bouquet at least once a month and left them in Claire's memorial. He made time to come all the way to the office just to leave some flowers personally. Isn't that considered devotion?"

A sudden memory passed through Jill's mind. The day they had been summoned to Terra Save because of Claire, she and Chris had found a beautiful bouquet of orchids on the table. She had thought that it'd been Chris, but the man had quickly denied it and said it was probably one of her colleagues; so it had been Leon.

"Like I said...we are friends. Friends do that…"

"Oh come on, Claire. Can't you at least accept that the guy actually has some interest in you?"

"I second that. Claire, I really think there's something in there…"

"You two are really delusional. Leon has his head all over Ada…"

"You mean that asian spy?"

"Yeah, that one. Those two have a story and I really don't want to get caught up in between by accident."

"So he said he had something with her?"

"No, he said it was complicated…" Claire shrugged "and?"

"Well, you're the one with the ring…"

"Faaake….remember?"

"Human mind works in curious ways, Claire. You never know what can happen when you plant a little seed…"

"You are over analysing things. This is just another mission for Leon…" Claire sighed.

"No, actually she may have a point…" Jill said "You two will be expending lots of time together, Claire. How do you know nothing will come out from it? You two certainly have chemistry..."

Claire seemed to think her words, but she didn't reply. Jill found it amusing. Claire could be a genius in some things, but when it came to relationships and feelings, she was as thick headed as her brother.

"God, what happened with the world during the eight months I was gone? Why everyone is suddenly shipping me with Leon?"

"Shipping?"

"Oh, that you can blame it on Wallace. It means wishing for two people to enter a relationship" Saya explained "We have a geek in our team and he has kind of inserted his vocabulary on us."

Jill wasn't sure why she found that small fact particularly amusing.

"The point is...suddenly everyone seems to be interested on me and Leon being together. No one ever cared before."

"Things had happened in the past eight months, Claire."

"Yeah? And exactly what might have happened that would suggest that Leon and I are a thing?"

"Well...you died…" Saya replied "Losing someone important often reveals things we didn't see before…"

"Forgive me if I don't see it…"

"Look...I'm not saying it'll happen, but maybe…" Jill continued with a smile "but you must know, Claire, that Chris isn't the only one with a soft spot for you. Kennedy has one for you, as well, and even Chris knows it or at least, his big brother radar senses it. In one way or another, Leon is attracted to you. Whether it is romantically or not, we don't know; but sometimes those feelings need a small opportunity to come out and what better chance than this?"

"You two are decided to convince me, aren't you?"

"Maybe we kinda want to see you together for real…" Saya admitted "but that's because you two seem to be a good match. Come one, Claire…"

"I don't know….I really don't know…" Claire sighed "I just don't want to fall into the love wave and have my heart crushed again. I've had enough heartbreaks already…"

"All we are saying, Claire, is that if the chance comes, grab it. Don't hesitate; because I feel that there is a nice chance for you in Leon hasn't figure it out yet; I mean... men are often too fool to notice what they really feel..." Jill told her with a sweet smile.

"I don't know where are you getting that idea, Jill."

"Called it a sixth sense, Claire. I just have a little feeling that there's much more than just friendly feelings..."

Claire let out a guessed that denial was a habit of the Redfield siblings, but she had the way the agent looked at Claire and there was something in him that just did not fit in the concept of friendly perspective.

"Are you done, yet?" Claire asked impatiently.

"Yeah, just a second. There, perfect…" Jill smiled proidly "Beautiful…"

"Ah, don't forget the glasses." Saya said passing her the case.

Claire put on the black framed glasses and blinked, she walked up to the mirror and stared at her reflection shocked. The two older women smiled at the sight, no one would ever think this was Claire Redfield at first sight. The hair extensions reached a little over her hips and they curled into some lazy waves that fell over her shoulders; Jill had touched up her profile and contoured her factions, finishing up with a nice nude shading that made the green lenses pop up nicely. The glasses helped her hide her her obvious traits and made her look smart and elegant at the same time. Jill had to admit she was rather proud of the job.

"God...that's totally not me…"

"That's the whole point of the disguise, isn't it?" Saya replied grabbing her shoulders "But you look gorgeous….trust us."

"Yeah…" Jill agreed "Your brother will pass out when he sees you."

"God, no...I can't got out like this!"

"Oh, yes you can. In fact, let's go pay the gentlemen a visit. Your husband will be very delighted to see you…"

Claire wanted to complain, but Jill and Saya grabbed her arms and dragged her all the way to the meeting room where Chris, Barry and Leon were working. Jill was the first one to enter.

The three men were leaning over a map, each of them was pointing at some point and commenting the possibilities. None of them seemed to notice her presence in the room.

"Eh-hem…" Jill coughed to catch their attention.

The three turned to her surprised.

"Jill, what are you doing here? I thought you were helping Claire…" Chris said.

"I was. We just finished…"

"Oh, how did that go?" Barry asked "How's Claire looking?"

"Why don't you judge that yourself?" Jill smiled pushing the door open with a smirk.

Claire was too busy bickering with Saya to notice that the door was open and Jill noticed, with great satisfaction, that the three men were pretty much shocked. Chris's mouth was open and his eyes were wide as plates as he stared at his sister; Barry was chuckling to himself and Leon seemed a little too shocked to react, and Jill felt full of contentment.

"I told you I'm…" Claire didn't end up her sentence as she suddenly realized the door was open and she was staring at her brother and company. Her face turned almost as red as the lipstick that Jill had put on her lips and her face showed the panic of a deer that had just been found by hunters.

"Gentlemen...Clara Driscoll….or should I say, Kennedy." Jill added with a smirk and she saw Claire glaring at her.

"Well, look at that.." Barry laughed "Our little goose turned out be a pretty swan…"

"That has to be the most cliché compliment I've ever heard, Barry…" Claire laughed nervously " but I guess it worked, then?"

Barry gave her a thumbs up and big nod.

"You've got my approval."

"Jesus…. Claire, you look…" Chris said with a grin walking to her " I knew you were pretty, but...this is a whole new level. Now I'm starting to be glad that you're supposed to be married, otherwise I'd have to court martial half of my men…"

"Only half?" Jill laughed.

"Okay, maybe more than half. Make sure none of them touches her, Leon...I'm warning you."

"As if I would let that happen. Don't forget she's supposed to be _my_ wife…" Leon smirked " You look spectacular, Claire."

"Okay, thanks, but cut it down with the compliments….I don't think my capillaries can't take it." Claire said looking away embarrassed.

"Too shy for her own good…" Saya shrugged and Claire elbowed her.

"I'm not...this is just embarrassing…"

"Normal people don't get embarrassed for looking fabulous."

"Oh, I think we already know that I don't fall within the norm." Claire mumbled sarcastically.

"Should I send a picture to Wallace?"

"Don't you dare…"

"He's going to see you eventually...!"

Claire was glaring at the doctor, but with her new look, it only made her look cute rather than threatening.

"I think it should be enough to fool most people." Jill smiled while Claire was busy bickering with Saya.

Chris stared at his sister with his head slightly tilted aside.

"Yeah, it works perfectly. I can see Claire in there because I know it is her; but if I didn't know I'd probably not see it, at all…" Chris agreed "She looks a lot like our mom…"

Jill looked at the older Redfield. Chris didn't talk much about his parents, and she had heard little about them in all the years she'd worked with him.

"Oh, that's right. Adams called..."

"Huh? Did something happened?"

"He called to see how Claire was. It seems like Rebecca is having troubles with the viral sample she received some days ago."

"You mean the one retrieved from Mexico?"

"Yeah, he'd like Claire to take a look, but…"

"You're worried about throwing her straight back into that, right?"

"She's just returned; I'll be lying if I said I don't want her to take it easy for a while. What if throwing her back into all this crap triggers something and she starts remembering things that she shouldn't?"

Jill understood the struggle that Chris was having. It was always tough when it came to family.

"Chris, those memories are bound to come some day. Good or bad…" she said softly "Claire is a strong girl and I don't think she'd want to be kept out of this. If Rebecca is having troubles, CLaire might be the only one that can help…"

"I know that…" Chris sighed "I should have suspected she was the one behind all the data we kept getting about the viruses. I can't believe how she managed to keep it all secret for how long."

"Well, she had help, didn't she?" Jill shrugged "We owe her a lot. Most of the new vaccines that Rebecca and her group managed to create was thanks to all that info we received. It's a little unfair that she never got the credit for it, but I don't think she cared about that…"

"Claire prefers to stay low. I don't think she ever realizes that she usually gets too much attention unwillingly..:" Chris chuckled.

"Yeah…"

Jill looked back at the younger Redfield. She had stopped bickering with Saya and was, now, hiding her face behind her hands. Barry had probably said something that made her embarrassed; right next to her stood Leon. The man was shaking his head with an amused look.

Looking at them like that, Jill was convinced that those two really made a good match.

"I guess I'll accept Adams's request. "

Jill nodded. She patted his arm and smiled trying to assure him that everything would be alright.


	39. Part II: Chapter 19

PLease enjoy! I originally had something to say, but I just forgot what it was, so I'll just skip the A/N.

THanks for ther reviews and the reviews to come.

* * *

 _Claire_

A couple days passed before they finally began their trip back to the United States. Originally, Chris was supposed to return with them, but he was forced to stay back when one of the recon teams found a suspicious ship floating in the sea. Saya, too, had left the day before when an "emergency" at the office had forced her back early. The japanese doctor assured her than it was something small and manageable. As a result, Leon and Claire were traveling alone. THe older Redfield accompanied them to the airport; both Barry and Jill had had to stay behind handlinf the situation until Chris was back.

The DSO had arranged for them to return in a commercial flight. It was less comfy and perhaps a little more risky, but with Leon's marriage as an excuse, it'd have been too suspicious to use a private didn't mind, Leon, she was used to the trips in commercial planes, and even though her nerves were still a little on edge, she found the presence of more people around a little more comforting.

"Call me when you get there…" Chris said finally letting go of her.

"I will. That doesn't mean you'll answer though, so don't get all cranky when you end up with some missed calls..."

"I'll make sure to answer. Even if there's a damn B.O.W on my tail…"

"Chris...don't be an idiot. That's a reasonable excuse to miss my call…"

Chris laughed and ruffled his sister's hair affectiously.

"I know, I know..." he said softly "Take care of her, Leon..."

"Don't worry, I will."

"I'll see you in a few weeks, okay?"

"Ok. Try to make it back in one piece. Take care, Chris...please."

The older Redfield nodded and waved at them as Claire and Leon walked to the boarding gate. Claire was conflicted as a part of her wanted to keep Chris with her. She knew the sentiment was childish and that Chris had a more important task to do; but she couldn't help it. All she could do was pray that her brother would stay safe and sound. It was strange, but recently she had been going through a vortex of primal feelings, many of them childish in someway.

The flight would take a few hours, but they had nice and comfortable seats, so she couldn't complain. Especially considering that it was probably the most comfortable way of traveling she'd had in a while. Claire looked through the window as the plane raised into the air and the buildings began to grow smaller and smaller. She was finally going home.

 _Can it still be called home, though?_

"Anything I should know before we get there?"Claire asked ignoring her inner voice.

"Not really…" Leon replied "Helena will pick us up and take us to our new home"

"Helena. You haven't told me about her…"

"Yes, I did. I told you about her when we talked about the events in Tall Oaks and China."

"Yeah, I remember that; but that wasn't what I meant. I mean...about her personality and most importantly, should I be wary of her?"

"Why would you need to be wary of her ?"

"Easy question...just in case she's one of haters..."

"Why would she hate you in the first place? She has never met you…"

"Okay, let me rephrase the question then… Is she one of your fangirls?"

"...No…."

"Then I am safe…" Claire nodded with a smile.

Leon let out a chuckle and Claire laughed. There was always something pleasant about exchanging teasing comments with Leon.

"So...okay, next question…"

"Are we playing 20 questions or what?"

"Just trying to make the trip enjoyable…"

"Fine, I'll answer if you answer mine."

"Reasonable…" Claire shrugged and the blonde smiled.

"You already asked, so this makes it my turn…"

"Oh, you cheater…"

Claire wondered what Leon was going to ask. Would it be about her work? SHe had certainly left a lot of unanswered questions.

"What's your favorite food?"

Claire looked him dumbfounded. That was certainly a question she had not expected.

"What?"

"I asked what your favorite food was…" he repeated.

"Are you kidding?"

"Do I look like I am kidding?"

"Why on earth would you want to know that?"

"Have you noticed that we never ask the normal questions? You're supposed to be my wife, I should at least know these small things, but we never talk about normal stuff..."

"Oh fine..." Claire sighed. She had to admit that Leon made sense "...Chicken pot pie. My mom used to make it. She always made the dough herself and added peas and carrots to the filling. She never told me what was her secret ingredient, though, and even if mine tastes quite alike, according to Chris, I still I can't replicate her recipe..."

"Huh, I had no idea you could cook…"

"Chris can't really cook; not even to safe his life. Someone had to do it when it was only he and I " she laughed. The last time that Chris had tried to cook something it had been a disaster and she still remembered that dreadful dinner.

Chris had just become of age, what gave him full rights to become his sister's guardian and she was glad that she could finally move in with him. Her foster family was nice, but she preferred to live with her brother a thousand times better. She had been fourteen, then, and Chris had tried to make some mac & cheese for dinner, but somehow, he managed to burn it down so badly, that their house stunk of burned cheese for days and they had to get rid of spoiled pan. At the end she decided that she'd never let Chris take the lead in the kitchen again. Years later, she realized that she actually enjoyed cooking duty.

"Your turn…Ask away…." Leon smiled.

"...I think I just forgot what I wanted to ask.."

Leon laughed and Claire rolled her eyes. Her mind had gone back into her memories with Chris and suddenly the question she had been meaning to ask had been wiped out from her thoughts.

"Does it mean I can keep asking? Because I sure got a lot to ask."

"No, that wouldn't be fair…" Claire glared at him "so this...Helena, how's she?"

"We had a bumpy start, but she grew on me. Saved me a couple times and we seem to work well together. We've been assigned together a few times ever since China."

"I see...you sure are a magnet for the other sex, huh? And who knows...maybe even from the same sex."

"What can I say? I think it all started with a certain auburn haired girl back in 1998."

"Oh, haha...as if" Claire punched him in his arm "it's your turn now. What are you going to ask? What's my favorite ice cream flavor?"

"I hadn't considered that question…"

"I was kidding. Seriously, Leon. You should know better than to waste questions in things as stupid as that…"

"It's not stupid if I'm getting to know my wife, right?"

"You already know me…"

"Yes, when it comes to terrorism and bioweapons. But How do you explain that I can list you favorite ammo but I don't know you're favorite ice cream?"

"Ah...fine, mint chocolate. That's my favorite ice cream..."

"I didn't ask so I still have my question…"

"Oh, smartass; you fooled me…" Claire laughed.

"So...my real question...why don't you like to use your hair down?"

"Well...I don't know…" Claire shrugged "It kind of gets in the way. I mean…."

Claire lifted the strand of auburn hair that hung over her shoulder and frowned.

"Especially when you need to punch something. It's easier to have it tied up. Can you picture me trying to kick a zombie with the hair all over my face?"

"Why not? I know girls who fight zombies in heels and miniskirts…..what's wrong with some hair in your face?"

"It's impractical…" Claire said shaking her head " How are you supposed to run and dodge around in heels? And yeah, okay ...Face off the horde of cannibal zombies with as much skin visible as possible...might as well add some salt and pepper…"

Claire would never understand why media insisted on putting people in high heels, miniskirts and unnecesary lack of clothing in apocalyptic and post apocalyptic movies and games; it made absolutely no sense and it was absolutely unrealistic. When it came to those situations, priority was to keep your body from getting bitten or scratched, so the best choice was thick, comfortable and practical clothes; the same came with shoes. It was obvious that the designers in those games and films had never had to fend for their lives in reality otherwise they'd know how it felt to be chased around by monsters with inappropriate outfits...

A sudden shudder ran down her spine as a quick image of a black damp tunnel appeared in her head; she was crouched agaisnt the wall and, talking about inadequate outfits, she was wearing nothing but a white foggy dress that looked almost like a nightgonwn that was quickly quickly growing dark as she rubbed a mix of mud and, god knew what else, all over her body as she kept muttering to herself " _Hide away. Become invisible...Hide away. Become invisible..."_

The woman had to shake her head to push away the thoughts and she hoped that Leon hadn't noticed the gesture.

"Maybe you should write down a manual for that?" Leon suggested "How to survive a zombie apocalypse for real. Rule number one, no room for fashion..."

"Whatever it takes to keep yourself safe..." Claire muttered softly.

 _Even killing...(?)_

If Leon had noticed Claire's sudden change of tone, he hadn't made any reaction. The agent had picked on her auburn locks and was playing with it between his fingers.

" Still, I think it looks good on

"The hair?"

"Yeah."

"I know you like it. You told me before…"

"I...did?"

"That night...in the cave...eight months ago?"

"Oh...right…"

Leon seemed to be suddenly lost in thought and that made Claire tilt her head at him curiously; she poked at his arm playfully, making the man look at her confused.

"No daydreaming in the job…" she teased him trying to push away the uncomfortable feeling from her gut "My turn now. So... how do you like being an agent?"

"It's not bad, but it isn't the best job in the world. It's nothing compared to what Chris does...but at least I get the chance to do things to make the world better." he replied sincerely.

"I guess we all fight with that sentiment in our hearts, huh? A way to make the world a better place..."

 _Is it even worth it?_

"Some of us in a more destructive way, apparently…"

 _Dead follows those who fight... Is our fight bringing hope or just chaos and pain?_

Claire shook her head. She chuckled slightly, knowing that he was referring to Chris and himself. Chris and Leon were always in the eye of the problem; always fighting their way out through the sea of fire and monsters, while she...where was she? She couldn't really tell anymore. She was about to comment on that statement when she heard a soft giggle. Claire looked past Leon and, in the neighbor isle, she saw a pair of girls looking at them; more precisely at Leon. They were young, probably in their early twenties, and both were giggling and mumbling to each other while discretely pointed at Leon.

Claire raised an eyebrow and laughed, making Leon look at her curiously.

"Seems like someone is interested…"

Claire tilted her head, pointing to the pair of girls who were watching them curiously. Leon looked in the direction his companion was aiming with a frown. The agent's lack of surprise was proof enough for Claire to know that such things probably happened often. The pair of girls caught the blonde's eyes and began to laugh as schoolgirls as they whispered among themselves.

" _Was I that obnoxious when I was their age?"_ she thought.

Leon ignored the girls and turned back to Claire. The man was keeping his cool, but she could see the annoyance reflected in his mossy green eyes.

"Hold back your testosterone, Leon…" she teased him "I thought you wanted to stay low key…"

Leon took Claire's hand and caressed it gently; the man looked at her with a coyish smile and brought her hand to his lips, leaving visible the ring that adorned his finger. The action took Claire by surprise and her face immediately reddened as the woman looked at him alarmed. Leon simply smiled at her amused.

"Flirt…" she said rolling her eyes and she heard Leon laugh.

The blonde man coughed loudly and said in a particular loud voice.

"As if my _wife_ needed to be worried about anything; you should already know I only have eyes for you..." he said loudly and smirked at her shocked face.

Claire looked at him horrified; the people around him murmured and laughed softly while the pair of girls who had been looking at Leon looked disappointed. Claire felt her face burn at the shame and horror; the young Redfield glared at the blond agent. She saw the man struggling not to laugh and she punched his arm annoyed.

"Get used to it, Mrs. Kennedy…" Leon whispered with a snort.

"You're having too much fun with this, aren't you?"

"Watching you get flustered? If I have to be honest, yes, I am. This is probably the best flight I've been in…"

"What happened to the cool stoic agent I knew?"

"He's your husband now...so I might take certain liberties…" he replied.

Claire crossed her arms and stared at him accusingly. Maybe Leon was taking all this act a little too seriously. Then again, Leon was always serious when it came to his job, so she shouldn't be surprised that even a simple act was taken so seriously.

However, why did he have to tease her like that?

 _It'll just make it more painful when it ends._

"Ahg, I can't deal with you right now…" she said rolling her eyes.

Claire clicked her tongue irritably and, pretending to be upset, she took a book out of her handbag and started flipping through it. She was conscious that Leon was looking at her, but she choose to ignore the man. She wasn't really angry, but since Leon was taking his _liberties_ to tease her, she might as well do the same.


	40. Part II: Chapter 20

I have a bad habit whenever I write something that I want to keep the details real as much as I can ^.^" so sorry for the science blabber.

The identification of viral agents using genes is very common, and actually this methodis used sometimes in Real life. Also Rebecca's struggles are a real...

Hope you enjoy this chapter.

* * *

 _Leo_ _n_

Leon knew he shouldn't tease Claire. Anyone smart enough would know that teasing with a Redfield was as bad a signing for a death sentence; but for some reason he found himself unable to stop himself from doing it. Claire flustered face wasn't something you could see everyday, and he thought it was particularly adorable.

"Flirt…" she said rolling her eyes and Leon couldn't help but laugh.

Leon coughed loudly and said in a particular loud voice that was mostly meant for the two gossiping girls to hear.

"As if my _wife_ needed to be worried about anything; you should already know I only have eyes for you..." he said loudly and smirked at her shocked face.

Leon had to make a big effort to fight the urgent necessity to laugh at Claire's horrified face. The pale complexion of Claire's face had turned from a seething crimson and her bright cerulean eyes looked around with an expression that begged that none of the individuals around them had heard the blonde's comment .Leon noticed that the people in the seats nearby looked at them and murmured softly; the pair of girls who had been watching him were visibly disappointed.

"Get used to it, Mrs. Kennedy…" Leon whispered with a snort.

"You're having too much fun with this, aren't you?"

"Watching you get flustered? If I have to be honest, yes, I am. This is probably the best flight I've been in…"

"What happened to the cool stoic agent I knew?"

"He's your husband now...so I might take certain _liberties_ …"

Claire crossed her arms and stared at him accusingly and he had drown another laugh. Claire was giving him a softened version of Chris's intimidating glare; a glare that most of Chris's men called the Redfield Death Glare. He could imagine how scary that look could be if it came from the older Redfield, but coming from Claire and in the current situation, it was sort of adorable.

"Ahg, I can't deal with you right now…" she said rolling her eyes.

Claire clicked her tongue irritably pretending to be upset. Leon knew her well enough to know that she wasn't as mad as she tried to make him think. Claire was now giving him the cold shoulder as she flipped through the pages of a book.

"Are you really that mad?"

"I'm not mad...I'm irritated. That's different…"

"Oh, so you are talking to me? There I thought you'd ignore me for the rest of flight…"  
"I'm not a highschool girl, Leon" Claire replied without looking away from her book "Besides, with how talkative you are today, it'd be impossible to ignore you…"

"It's not always that I get to have a nice flight companion, after all."

"Oh really?" Claire said putting the book down and looking at him frowning.

"Right, sorry that I was teasing you. "

"Don't worry. It's part of the job, I know."

"Well, yes…and you look cute when you're flustered like that…"

"You're doing it again, Leon…"

"Okay, forget I said something…" he laughed "Back to more serious topics. We'll be landing in less than two hours…"

"So fast? Wow. I can believe I'll finally get home…"

"Yeah, but we'll have to take it slow for now.I am sure you'll need some time to get used to your new routine..."

"You underestimate my adaptive abilities, Leon."

"Oh, I don't. I've seen you abilities in action; but you still need some rest. I promised Chris that I'd take care of you, after all. I don't want to see you pushing yourself too far."

"I won't I promise; besides I won't be doing anything that I haven't done before…" Claire replied patting his arm "Though it'd be strange to in the same place with you…"

"I always thought you'll do well in the DSO, anyway…"

"And I always told you I am not agent material…"she laughed "Well, I'll be stuck in a laboratory so I guess I shouldn't complain. "

""You'll be ok. You'll get a chance to meet Sherry, too."

"Oh, Sherry…" Claire smiled "It's been ages since I last saw her. She must be all grown up already…"

Claire seemed lost in thought. Claire was right, Sherry was no longer the little girl that she had once taken under her wing when they were fleeing from Racoon City. The little girl had grown into a woman and was now a experienced agent. He knew Claire would be proud of her.

"Now that really makes me feel old…" Claire laughed.

"That makes us two…"

"The only difference...it's that you look better as you grow old, while I…"

"Look stunning…?"

Claire laughed at the man and Leon smiled.

"I don't think you should worry about how you look. You're quite beautiful no matter your age…"

"Seriously, Leon. Where's the button to turn off the _casanova_ mode?" Claire said searching around his arm teasingly "but seriously...I'll love to meet Sherry."

"I'll ask Hunnigan to contact her. If she's around she can drop by our home…"

 _Our home._ The words sounded so weird, but somehow it made him feel strangely pleased.

"I am sure she'll be more than willing to come and take a look at my wife."

"Haha, is Sherry part of your fangirl group?"

"More than a fangirl, she's a jealous little sister…" he chuckled.

Sherry Birkin had self claimed herself to be Leon's little sister; and as little sister, she had taken as her duty to judge any possible love interest that came into Leon's life. It wasn't like he had many, but Sherry would often do background check of any of his female partners and would often bombarded with awkward questions. To Leon, the whole thing seemed rather cute and amusing. The last time he'd seen her, she'd been doing random and personal question to Helena. He could only imagine the girl's reaction when she heard that he had gotten married with a woman she didn't know without telling her anything. She'll certainly be very surprised when she found out it was Claire.

"The type of sister who thinks no one woman is good enough for her brother?" Claire laughed "Oh, I remember when I had that phase with Chris…"

"You're telling me CHris actually had love interests…?"

"When he was a teen, yeah. It was before he joined the army, then he focused everything to work. I did freak off a couple of silly snobby girls though…"

Picturing a younger Chris with a girl was something hard to do for Leon, but picturing Claire doing the things Sherry did, was much more natural.

"So the overprotectiveness went both ways?"

"Hey, we only had each other. Of course we were apprehensive. So, how many girlfriends has Sherry scared away?"

"None, since there hasn't been any. She did creep off a couple agents though. I think she even convinced one that I was gay…"

"Oh dear. Was the woman that bad?"

"The stalker type...yeah, not big deal. SHe actually made me a favor getting rid of her."

"That's my girl…" she laughed "So I take she approves agent Harper?"

"I think she still doesn't trust her, but yes. She accepts Hunnigan though…."

"Oh, will I get to meet the famous operator?"

"You'll get your chance to meet her. I think you two would get along."

""Cool…"

Their conversation was interrupted by the fly attendant who came pushing the drinks cart. The woman politely asked them what they wanted and Leon turned to Claire.

"Juice? Or do you want something stronger? Scotch? Vodka?" he half joked.

"No alcohol for me, _honey_. I can't drink. Tea is fine, thank you."

The fly attendant served them two cups: tea for Claire and coffee for Leon. Leon watched claire put the sachet of sugar into the cup and stir it slowly with her spoon.

"No alcohol?"

"I take antidepressants, Leon. You know those two don't mix…"

"You are still taking them?"

Leon thought the woman wasn't taking them anymore. Hiwamura hadn't mentioned it again.

"No benzos, but I'm still taking my original treatment…" she replied sipping her tea.

"You never mentioned taking antidepressants before. You should have told me…"

"It wasn't important." she shrugged "I guess Saya told you why I took them."

"She mentioned something…"

"It helped me deal with the t-phobos. It was working fine."

"Why didn't you tell me about that?"

"It was a complicated thing to say." Claire smiled sarcastically and said in a soft and fake voice" _Hey, What's up Leon? How have you been? Me? Oh you know, the usual. Got abducted by a crazy scientist, injected with a fucking mutated virus and guess what? It seems my DNA recombined with the virus and now I have some weird genetic mutation that makes me a permanent asymptomatic host for it. It only makes me a little depressive; so I'm taking antidepressants as treatments..._ Sure that would have been the best conversation topic ever."

" What do you mean recombined?"

"Basic principles of viral infection. Virus infect healthy cells, hijacks's the cellular mechanism to replicate itself; in some cases, the viral DNA integrates into the host genome causing a mutation by recombination...sometimes it's good and sometimes it goes awfully bad. I was a good case, I guess…"

Leon looked at her concerned, but she shook her hair and smiled waving her hand.

"It's fine. THe symptoms aren't that bad once you get used to it and with the drugs, they're much more tolerable."

"And exactly what are those?"

"Insomnia, dizziness, paranoia…" Claire shrugged "It's fine though.."

Claire smiled at him and Leon knew that the smile was intended to ease him.

"You should have told me…"

"Sorry, I really didn't think it was important and that you'll care about it."

"Of course I care" Leon replied pinching the bridge of his nose " Let's make a deal…"

"Huh?"

"From now on, you'll tell everything, okay? Stupid or not, I don't care."

"Everything?"

"Yeah, if you're not feeling well or something. Chris told me you often keep things to yourself , I'm asking you to not do it. I need to know, okay?"

"Oh…" Claire seemed surprised "I guess...I can do that."

"What about the...other thing?"

"It's there…" Claire said unconsciously rubbing her temple "I can kind of feel it, but...it's hard to explain. I'll tell you if anything changes."

Leon nodded silently and sipped his coffee. He made a mental note to keep a close eye on Claire so that he would notice any strange behavior or anything that could seem off.

Leon had forgotten how tedious going through costumes was when it was a commercial flight. His trips were usually done in official flights, so he was excerpted from the regular protocol. The officer who attended them, at least, seemed to be nice and in a good mood. The man had congratulated him for his wedding and remarked how lucky he was with such a pretty wife. Claire still flinched a little whenever she was called Mrs. Kennedy and Leon felt like laughing each time she looked at him perturbed.

After a few long minutes filling out papers and answering questions, the two finally made it through the arrival door. THe blonde agent scanned the crowd until he found the familiar dark hair of a woman.

"Helena!" he waved at her while he guided Claire to where she was waiting for them.

"Leon…. Welcome back." Helena waved at him.

"Thanks for coming to receives us. This is Clai…Clara…"

"New Mrs. Kennedy…" Helena smiled as she stretched her hand and shook Claire's with a friendly gesture "Helena Harper…"

"Nice to finally meet you, agent Harper…"

"Please, Helena is fine. It gets tedious when they keep calling you agent…" Helena replied with a chuckle "It is nice to finally meet the famous Clara…"

"I doubt I am that famous…"

"You have no idea. Wait until you get to the office. You seem to be the topic of the month…"

Claire let out a soft sigh and looked at leon with an " _I told you so…"_ look. Leon only smiled, he grabbed her hand turned to Helena.

"Let's get back. Clara is probably tired from the trip."

"Of course, I'll lead you to the car."

Leon, Claire and Helena walked to the parking lot. Leon had been holding Claire's hand all the way to the car, something that Helena did not miss. She looked at the couple a laughed to herself.

"Never thought I'll live to the day I'd see Leon with a wedding band." She said as she drove taking the highway.

As they were in a safe spot, Claire felt much more at ease. She didn't need to pretend she was someone else and Leon didn't have to act as her husband.

"Yeah, I thought the exact same thing…" Claire said frankly "And what makes it even more crazy….he's married to me."

"I really don't think that's so crazy. He did speak a lot about you often…"

"He did, did he?" Claire asked looking at the blonde agent curiously.

"It's not important…" Leon replied quickly "So how's the situation so far?"

"All has been taken care off. Thank Hunnigan for that, Clara Kennedy née Driscoll is an official member of the DSO, now. You were assigned to R+D department, but you'll get to work on your own place."

"Ah, that's a relief…"

"So everyone knows…?"

"That you're married now? Yeah, let me tell you a lot of people didn't take the news well. Agent Birkin was quite indignant, for example."

"She'll be fine after she meets _my wife."_

"Sure thing. I heard agent Birkin knew you…" Helena added looking at Claire through the back mirror.

"Yeah, we were together during Racoon Incident…" Claire replied "We haven't seen each other in a while."

"I was hoping to let her meet her" Leon commented "I haven't asked Hunnigan if Sherry is around town."

"Agent Birkin is around, okay? She said she wouldn't leave until she gave you a piece of her mind." Helena said amused.

"That girl took too many traits from you, Claire." Leon sighed.

"Me?"

"She learned from you…"

Claire laughed and she saw Helena smirk.

"That girl has Leon eating from her palm. You can't imagine it…"

"Oh, I sure can. She's had him like that since she was 12…" Claire replied shaking her head "But Leon is probably right. I might have taught her a thing or two…"

"You taught her how to handle Leon?" Helena asked teasingly.

"More like how to not fall into his sweet talking."

Leon decided that it was time to change the topic.

"So Helena, any news from Dr. Chambers?"

"No. It seems she got a dead end with that thing. Last time I checked, she seemed quite frustrated."

"Poor Rebecca. I've been there too…" Claire whispered "I should call her and help..."

"You?" Helena asked surprised.

"I take Hunnigan hasn't told you, then."

"Tell me what?"

"That I was the one who was passing the viral data to you?" Claire shrugged.

"The viral data? Wait a second. She was the tipster? The one who gave us the info for the vaccine developments and all that?"

"Why everyone assumes it was only me? It was my team…" Claire said tortured.

" Yes, it was Claire and her team who were passing us that information 'll focus on that again, under the protection of the DSO now, as Clara Driscoll…"

"Kennedy, actually…" Claire said rolling her eyes "apparently…"

"Wow, I guess it makes sense now. We haven't had any new tips for a while, I suppose that explains a lot." Helena said "

"Yeah...remind me to get those guys a ear pull. Me being absent isn't an excuse to slack off…"

"You can't blame them if they were mourning. Honestly those were pretty depressing months. Even Leon's temper was a mess…"

"It wasn't…" Leon defended himself.

"Right...burying yourself under tons of missions isn't a coping mechanism." Helena said skeptically.

"It's been busy eight months."

"Whatever you say, Leon." Helena laughed "We are almost in your new home."

"It seems like a nice neighborhood. Perhaps a little too fancy."

"Leon never complained about living."

"Mostly because I rarely spent time in here…"

"So, we're staying in your apartment?" Claire asked looking at Leon.

"Yeah…" Leon shrugged "Chris and I discussed it, and it seemed safer than getting a new one. The place is already secured and everything…"

"ANd we will be neighbors, in case you get sick of Leon…" Helena snorted.

"Thanks for the offering" Claire laughed.

"The whole building belongs to the government so it should be safe...in general." HElena explained "Besides, if Leon got married, he would most likely bring his wife to his home, wouldn't he?"

Leon's department was actually pretty big for one person and it was quite plain decorated. THe blonde hadn't bothered with decorations when he knew he wouldn't spend that much time in there. The place was liveable at least.

"Wow...and I thought my place was plain…" Claire chuckled "This place seems colder than the fridge we keep our samples, Leon. You seriously need to consider a decorator…"

"It's not like it matters. I'm not much around."

"You will know that Clara is going to be around. I've told him he needs to make it more homelike, but as guy as he is, he doesn't care…"  
"Yeah, Chris apartment was much like that, too. Except his is at little messier...I guess I can handle that since I am free until monday, apparently. Mind if I do some decor?"

"Do as you please, Claire. I really don't mind."

"Leon, Leon...you never say that to a girl unless you want end up with pink bed sheets and fluffy pillows…"Helena said crossing her arms.

"I can't see Claire buying pink bed covers…"

"No, I wouldn't. I was thinking more of flowers and things like that …"

"I can live with plants."

"Good to know. I guess I'll go unpack then."

"Yeah, your room is the one up the stairs to the right." Leon told her.

Claire nodded and walked away leaving Leon and Helena standing in the living room. THe brown haired woman crossed her arms and looked at Leon.

"Well, she's pretty…" Helena said "By how you described her I thought she'd be all tomboyish."

"She's tough, but I never said she wasn't feminine. Have they figured out about Mobius?"

"Last time I checked, no. THe group seems good at covering their tracks. Some of our operators in FOS are trying to catch their tail, but they are sneaky. Is it true she can't remember?"

"More or less…" Leon replied "She remembers some things; but it seems that she has some post-traumatic amnesia thing…"

"That's sounds bad. Is she alright?"

"She says she is; but I'll be keeping an eye on her, just in case." Leon said watching the spot where Claire had disappeared. Helena was going to work with them so telling her the truth was the most logical thing to do. "She was infected with a new viru and it seems that the virus that she got from the russian island a few years ago left her with some unpleasant effects, too. I had no idea until recently..."

"Wow, that seems rough. So a new virus...is it safe?"

"It seems like it. She haven't shown any particular symptoms so…"

"She is immune to the virus?"

"We haven't figured that out yet. All we know for now is that Mobius seems to be after her. They made that clear in the message they left for the BSAA."

"Crazy bastards…" Helena sighed "They just have to go around ruining people's lives, don't they?"

"That's what they do best."

"When Simmons took Deborah, they did awful things to her." Helena said bitterly "She looks l like a nice woman that doesn't deserve to be mistreated." she added looking up the stairs.

"She is. Claire has gone through a lot of things that she didn't deserve. It's a little touchy topic,so…"

"I know. I won't ask too many questions about it. Don't worry."

"Thanks."

"You really are concerned about her, aren't you?"

"She's a close friend…"

"Right, is it complicated too?"

"Too?"

"Like with Ada Wong…"

"...No, with Claire things are…"

"What happened with me?" Claire asked coming down the stairs. Her patented ponytail was back in place.

Leon smiled. Without the glasses and the ponytail back in place, Claire was back to her old self.

"I thought you were told no ponytails…"Leon said with a grin.

"In public. AS far as I am concerned...I'm in home with you guys who already know I am Claire." Claire replied walking down the stairs "so you called my name?"

"Oh, we were discussing details from the mission that's all." Helena answered " so...what now?"

"I should call Chris…" Claire remembered "He'll want me to check in...and I should call Saya too. It'd be good if she can send me some files from the past eight months so that I can catch up"

"I told you to take it easy, Claire."

"I'm a Redfield. Taking it easy isn't in me genes…"

Helena smiled. Leon could tell that the woman was liking Claire so far.

"Well , you need to try; because I won't let you do anything work related until Monday."

"Great...48 h doing nothing useful for the world…"

"Your existence is useful enough , Claire."

"That sounded corny…but thanks for the cheer."

"How about we get to know each other? Let's have some girls time. I'm sure you are sick of Leon being on your tail all day."

"Nah, Leon is a good companion, but I'd love to know you better considering that you'll have to bear with me for who knows how long."

"Okay, then I'll let you two chat. I'll go check in with Hunnigan and Chris…""

"Send some love to Chris for me…"

"You can send him yourself, later. I don't think he'll receive any love from me..."

Leon left the room, leaving the two women in a friendly conversation. Once out of the living room, the agent pulled out his cell phone and dialed Chris's number.

The call with Chris lasted a few minutes. The elder Redfield seemed relieved to hear that they had reached their destination without problems and told him that he planned to return to the USA in a few days. The hint they had found had led them to a ship that was floating adrift in the Irish sea, a few miles from Cardigan Bay. The ship looked suspicious, but after boarding and investigating the ship they found nothing: no corpses, no B.O.W.s, no secret labs...nothing.

"To tell the truth, I don't even know why was a ship floating adrift there to begin with." Chris annoyed voice said through the line "Jill thinks it might have been a diversion."

"A diversion? From what? The real location…"

"God knows what...the point is there was nothing there to find, so we are back to square one. BSAA will keep scouting the area, but for the time being I'll rather stay closer to Claire. Just in case…"

"You are welcome to visit at anytime, Chris…"

"Yeah, thanks. So is everything ready in the DSO?"

"It should. I was planning to call and check it up after spoke with you; but Hunnigan is reliable, so I am sure everything is in order. Claire should start working on monday."

"I talked to Adams and Rebecca. They want to see Claire as soon as she's settled. Knowing Rebecca, she's probably anxious to have one of her complicated conversations with Claire."

"I don't doubt Claire can handle that conversation,,,"

"Where's she now?"

"In the living room. Talking with Helena. Those two seem to be enjoying themselves"

Leon looked towards the living room from where he was standing. Claire and Helena were sitting in the couch; at some point after Leon left the room, the women had got up to make of tea and now both were talking and laughing like old friends.

"So...she's okay? Nothing abnormal?"

"Not really. She's fine as far as I can see. If anything changes you'd be the first person I'd notify."

"Okay...Then we'll talk later."

As soon as the call was over, Leon pressed the Hunnigan number and waited for the agent to respond.

"Hello, Leon…"

"Hi, Hunnigan.."

"How was the flight?"

"Nicer than I would have expected. We are back in my apartment now. Everything is in order and I think Claire is all settled down."

"That's good to hear. I was about to call you. I just received a call from Hopkins. BSAA was requesting Clai...Clara's assistance in the study of Mexican sample."

"Yeah, I know. I just spoke with Chris…"

"That will be her first assignment under the DSO jurisdiction. I'm sure she will find the job familiar…"

"Yeah, no doubt she will. So...everything is in order?"

"Yes, of course. I'll be sending the files that Dr. Chamber sent me to you. Show them to Clara. See what she thinks of it."

"Ok…"

"Anything else you need, Leon?"

"Yeah, how's your research on Mobius going?"

"Sneaky they are. I'll let you know if I come up with anything, you know that."

"Yeah, okay… then, I'll see you on Monday."

"See you, Leon; and be careful…"

Leon put away his phone and entered the living room just in time to hear Helena laughing loudly.

"So Leon crashed the police car?" Claire said shaking her head "Oh, that's so deja vú…"

"You two seem to be having fun…"

"Just a long trip down memory lane…" Claire smiled "You didn't tell me you crashed a police car , again…."

"In my defense...it's not easy to drive when there zombies trying to eat you."

"Well, you two are in one piece, so I guess that went well…"

"Yeah, Leon was pretty cool back then."

"It's Leon. Has ever been not cool?"

"I should take that a compliment…"

"You do that, Leon. I'm just feeding your ego…" Claire laughed "So how did the call go? Did you talk to Chris?"

"Yeah, he's coming back in a couple days. The lead they had took them to a dead end, so…"

"He's coming back to look after me…"

"Yeah, also...Dr. Chambers wants to talk to you. I still need to confirm the date, but you'll probably meet her this monday."

"Cool...that's good."

"And... Hunnigan just sent me the data that Dr. Chambers got until now. SHe wants you to take a look on them."

"Oh, that sounds like perfect reading before bed."

"I never imagined you'll be nerd…" Helena said good naturedly.

"Believe you're not the only one; but being underestimated sometimes works well…"

"So...Back then, with the C-virus…"

"Oh, yeah. I was the one who sent the data about the vaccine with Jake Muller's antibodies." Claire replied as she walked to the counter to pour some water in a cup"At the time I didn't work with you guys. I never liked Simmons, but Hopkins was already a good acquaintance. Unfortunately due to certain...situations, I wasn't able to help more with the outbreak that took place back then."

"I heard you were missing at the time…"

"Yeah, trapped in a soviet island frozen in time. Not a nice experience."

"Sorry…"

"Don't worry. I already crossed that bridge." she replied coming back and offering Leon a cup "ceylon. I know you like it…"

"Thanks…"he replied grabbing the cup "Here's the data…"

Leon gave Claire his phone and she began flipping through the files. For Leon and Helena, the documents looked like a lot of words and complicated diagrams, but Claire seemed fascinated by it.

"Yeah, just what I thought. Rebecca hasn't been able to replicate the virus since she hasn't found the target cell…"

"And that's bad?"

"Well, yeah. Without propagation, it's hard to define the pathology mechanism, which, by default, causes the selection genes to amplify is much more difficult… "  
"So we won't know what that thing is unless they can propagate it?"

"Not necessarily. I said it was difficult, not impossible."

"Think you can do it?" Leon asked.

"I can try…" Claire replied looking through the files "The structure may give an idea. Rebecca was doing a good job; I think she was on the right track...however, without infected cells to work or study, her research was certainly hand tied."

"This sure are complicated…"

"Sometimes it is, yes…" Claire said looking some pictures "Especially when it is a completely new virus that isn't in the database yet; then again...never underestimate Molecular Biologist who happens to be a Redfield. If there's a flaw in the family is that we are stubborn as mules… I will figure this out even if I have to spend hours in cold chamber. Don't worry...leave it to me."

"That's not happening" Leon said knocking Claire's head softly "You're not skipping sleep hours under my watch…"

"You really need to stop hanging out with Chris."

Claire rubbed her head and rolled her eyes, but Leon smirked and sat down by her side; he picked the mobile phone from Claire's hand and put it on the table.

"It's getting late. I'll head back to my apartment." Helena said "If you need anything, just call okay? Leon may be a super agent, but there's no way he'll ever understand some of the female needs."

"Thank you, Helena. I'll definitely keep it mind." she laughed.

Claire and Leon accompanied Helena to the door and watched her walk to her apartment a couple of doors beyond Leon's apartment. The pair exchanged glances and entered the apartment again.

"Hungry?" she asked "Seems like Helena did grocery shopping for you, so I could cook you something."

"Ah? Oh yeah…" Leon replied "need some help?"

"That's fine. You can sit there a make me company. I have enough bad experiences with men in the kitchen…"

"And how many men have you had in the kitchen?" Leon said sitting on the breakfast bench while Claire was removing ingredients from the refrigerator "You make it sound like a herd…"

"If you consider Chris's men as herd, then you're right." she said washing and starting to chop the ingredients "the sure are brave men that eat like wolves, but suck in kitchen chores…"

Leon chuckled. He stood up and walked into the kitchen.

"Then I should try to save the dignity of men in your eyes…"

Leon took the knife from Claire's hand and began to chop the vegetables with practiced skill. Claire looked at him surprised and laughed.

"Well, look at that. Handsome and with cooking skills…" she said shaking her head "Seriously, Leon. You need to stop being such a model man …"

"I used to help my mom in the kitchen when I was younger." Leon replied as he watched Claire pull out the pan from one of the cabinets and pour the oil into it "I was the youngest child in the family and I always ended up doing the things my siblings avoided...like cooking. I ended up enjoying though…"

"You had a brother and sister, right?"

"Yeah; my brother is with the Marines; he is stationed in Hawaii base now, and my sister is living in Chicago with her husband and my family."

"Nephews?"

"Two...twins. Annoying little devils…"

"Can't be that bad…"

"That's because you don't know them. Those two would drive anyone crazy, even you child lover..."

"Who knows? I do have a touch with children…" Claire said as she mixed the contents of the pan with a smile. "I bet you're their favorite uncle."

"If that was true they wouldn't pester me that much in the rare occasions that I go visit…"

"Now, there is where you are wrong…"Claire laughed " kids do that when they want attention. They just want you to play with them...most likely."

"You sound experienced."

"I do work...worked with kids in Terra Save. I know they do all kind of kinky things when they want attention…"

"Maybe I should bring you along next time I visit. You'll know what I'm talking about."

"Sure, bring a random stranger to visit your family…"

Leon remained pensive for a few moments while watching Claire serve the plates, but he woman was so absorbed in the work that she did not realize that the agent was looking at her.

"Dinner is served." she announced "Well, not bad Leon. You can now brag your cooking skills on Chris's nose…"

"Huh...I'm sure Chris will loved that." Leon snorted serving two glasses of water "well, let's try your cooking…"

Leon took a bite of the food and found out that it tasted delicious. Perhaps it was a placebo effect by the concept of homemade cooking, but he actually felt that the food tasted slightly different than the usual take out he would have eaten if he'd been by himself.

"So…? Did I pass the test?"

Leon chewed and swallowed his bite, He looked at the young woman''s expectant look and smiled.

"Now I can go to the office and brag that my _wife_ can cook …" he teased.

"Oh, stop teasing me and eat.."


	41. Part II: Chapter 21

**Hello everyone. I'm sorry this update came out late. I've been awfully busy since I was given somo extra research hours. Either way, part II is wrapped. All I need to do now is edit and update so I hope it'll be faster.**

 **Either way, thanks for the people that have kindly dropped by to read and to all who reviewed.**

* * *

 _Claire_

It took Claire a couple days to get used to her new life as Leon's romie, but surprisingly, it wasn't as hard as she had anticipated. Somehow her usual rhythm matched Leon's quite well, so they easily synchronized.

Claire's sleep pattern improved considerably; however, she still had to keep the light on if she wanted to keep her sanity and her calm. Even though she knew that she was in the safety of Leon's apartment and that the man was a few meters away from her, ready to throw the door if he heard her scream, Claire could not stop the horror that surrounded her when the darkness began to envelope her.

Maybe it was her mind playing cruel tricks or the hallucinations caused by the virus, but as soon as the light went out and the veil of shadows began to fill the rooms, Claire felt her heart stirring and the sensation of being observed and stalked by something that lurked in the shadows grew stronger and stronger. Her only solution was to sleep with the lights on and if Leon had found it strange habit, the man never said anything. Leon was particularly comprehensive with her, and Claire felt greatly grateful to him.

Claire had come to like Helena's company. The woman would come and take Leon's place whenever he needed to go out for an errand. They would talk about silly things or about any funny memory about Leon, the topic wasn't really important.

"So...being honest here, what do you think? Would Leon make a good husband?" Helena asked curiously.

"What? Are you planning to marry him in a future?"

"Me? Of course not. I am just curious."

"Well, I think he would; but it isn't like I've had many husbands to compared him…" Claire laughed.

The two giggled , but their chat was soon interrupted by the doorbell. Helena looked suspiciously at the door. Leon rarely had visitors and they hadn't been expecting anyone today. Helena motioned Claire to wait as she walked to the door and opened it. As soon as the mahogany door flipped open, a patch of platinum blonde hair stomped into the apartment like a hurricane. The person didn't have to introduce herself for Claire to know who it was.

"Ok, Leon. You owe me an explanation…" Sherry said as she entered. Her voice demanding and accusing "How can you get married without telling me anything? Now you better...wait, you're not Leon."

" I think that's pretty clear…" Helena said with a frown.

" Agent Harper… What are you doing here? Where's Leon?"

"He's out doing an errand. Should be back soon, though." Helena replied crossing her arms.

"Oh, ok. I will wait for him then. " Sherry replied crossing her arms and looking at Helena with irritation.

Claire stifled a modest laugh as she watched Sherry strike the floor rhythmically with her foot. The young girl with platinum hair looked quite irritated and Claire decided to remain hidden a few minutes more.

"Sure...I guess…" Helena shrugged "I don't think he would mind, anyway…"

"He does owe me some explaining. I mean...he got married without telling me?"

"Why are you su bothered by it? Leon is a grown man, I think he can marry whoever he wants…"

" We are like family! HE didn't tell me and just did it? I don't even know this...Clara whatever…" Sherry pouted.

"So you're annoyed that he didn't introduced you to his fiancé?" Claire asked softly.

"Of course I am! How do I know she's not some random girl who's all in for his looks?" Sherry replied without paying attention to who was asking question "Leon is too much of a gentleman to see when a woman is trying to use him…"

"I think Leon can handle it pretty well himself…"

"As if. He might be the best agent in DSO and charmlady but he definitely can't tell which ladies are good enough for him…"

"Really? So you can tell who is good enough for him? Who would that be?"

"It needs to be someone who can understand him. That knows what he goes through so that she can support him, also someone who can help and definitely now damsel in distress….Oh, and she has to be loyal...not a backstabbing woman who would sell him to the best buyer…"

"You're not referring to Ada, are you?" Claire continued and she noticed Helena chuckling "I doubt Leon would appreciate if you badmouth her…"  
"Why would he care? He's married now isn't he? Geez...he should have married someone else…someone like..."

"Like?" Helena asked and Sherry looked at her arms crossed.

"I don't know...Claire maybe?"

Claire giggled and saw Helena shake her head amused. So, Sherry was using her as a reference for Leon's potential girlfriends. In a way, Claire found that little surprising; however, the irony of the matter was really funny.

"Then I wouldn't be concerned about, Clara." Helena said "You won't find anyone as close to Claire Redfield than her."

"Huh?" Sherry asked confused.

"She means me…" Claire said coming out from her hiding spot.

Sherry turned on her heels and looked at Claire with her eyes wide and her mouth slightly open in surprise. The girl seemed unable to articulate any words due to the shock.

Claire shrugged and smiled at the young woman in front of her.

"C-Claire?"

"Hello to you too, Sherry." Claire greeted her with amused look."But my name is Clara now..."

Sherry stared at her dumbfounded. Her gaze passed from Claire to Helena and then back to Claire. Out of sudden, the young woman hugged Claire with such as strength that the auburn headed nearly lost her breath.

"Oh my god, Claire...I thought you were..." Sherry said with her eyes filled with tears.

"I know...I know…" Claire said patting the girl's back "You like everyone else..."

"Oh, Claire...I'm so glad...when they told me you…"

"Shhhh...I know, I know...I'm back and I'm fine…"

Sherry cleaned up her tears and smiled.

"So...you are...Leon's wife?"

"Technically, yes."

"It's a cover story. There's a bioterrorist group that has targeted her. As a result, it was decided that she would be under the special protection program."

"Oh...and Leon is your designated bodyguard…" Sherry said understanding.

"Yes, and myself as well." Helena replied tilting her head.

"Oh, that makes sense. That's why you are here, now."

"Yeah...well, this is supposed to be classified, but I guess it is fine that you know it."

"Leon would have told her anyway,,," Claire assured her.

"I would have told what?"

The three women looked toward the door, where Leon had just entered and was taking off his jacket. The man looked at the three women surprised. Judging his look, Claire knew that he hadn't expected to find Sherry sitting graciously on his couch.

"Sherry? What are you doing here?"

"Well, apparently...getting to know your wife." Sherry replied teasingly "You know...I was truly hurt when I heard you have gotten married and didn't even invite me to the wedding."

Claire wanted to laugh at Leon's shocked face. It wasn't everyday that she got the chance to see Leon lose his cool.

"I originally intended to see who this woman was and give you a piece of my mind…" Sherry said looking at Claire "But since you just married Claire, I have nothing to say…"

"Oh, really?" Leon said crossing his arms and frowning at the young woman."

"Of course." Sherry giggled and hugged Leon's arm and whispered softly " No ones is better suited than her…"

Claire felt that her face blush furiously so she quickly stood up and moved to pour some drinks before anyone could notice it. She was not quite sure why Sherry's comment had made her blush, but she blamed Saya and Jill for putting inappropriate ideas about her relationship with Leon in her head. They were making her act awkward every now and the _n._

 _It would have been nice if it was real, wouldn't it?_

"Claire?"

"Huh?" she said startled as she was pulled out from her thoughts.

"You spaced out…" Leon said looking at her concerned "Are you okay?"

"I….yeah, sorry…I just got distracted."

Leon didn't buy that excuse, Claire knew it by the skeptical look he'd given her. Despite that, he didn't ask further questions since Helena and Sherry where close by, but Claire was sure that, once they were alone, the man would definitely question her. She would handle when the time came.

"So how did your errand go?" Claire asked casually trying to change the topic as she offered him the glass of juice.

"It was fine." he replied accepting the glass " I went to check your "new" office. I met Hiwamura. She sends you her regards. She also said she'll come visit soon to bring you Midnight."

"Midnight?" Helena asked curiously.

"...My cat…" Claire explained.

"You had a cat?" Sherry asked surprised.  
"Well...not exactly…" Claire replied "It just followed me back from a mission. I tried to find him a home, but he kept coming back every time. At the end I just got used to have him around. I guess Saya took care of him in my absence. I can tell her to keep him for a while longer if it bothers you…"

"No, you can have him. I really don't mind."

"Oh, thanks…"

Claire was relieved when Leon had allowed her to have the cat. The truth was that she'd grown very attached to the animal. She had stumbled with it when it was merely a kitten: famished and hurt, during a post-outbreak salvation mission. Claire had instantly taken pity of it and nursed it back to health; she didn't realize the animal had somehow found a way into her bag when she returned home and after many failed intents to get it a home, she decided to keep it; she had named it Midnight due to its pretty black fur and it had automatically gained the love of the members of her team.

The cat lived most of the time in her office at Terra Save, unless she decided to return to her apartment for a period longer than 24 hours, in which case, Claire would take the cat with her. The animal was quite well behaved; during the day he usually stayed asleep in his corner of the office and during the night, he prowled around.

Most of the employees were already used to receiving visits from the cat and some even bought him gifts.

"Hunnigan also sends her regards."

"That's nice of her. When will I get the honor of meeting her, I wonder.."

"Soon, I am sure. She gave me your new mobile phone…" Leon added giving her a standard mobile from the DSO; a model that seemed similar to Leon's. " She already tampered with it, so the line should be safe. I already put Chris's, Helena's , Hunnigan's and my number in there. You might want to add Sherry's later. "

"Oh, fancy…" Claire said looking the gadget "Much more luxurious than my old one, now I can't complain about being uncommunicated. Thank you."

"Hunnigan already uploaded that data from Dr. Chambers research in there…"

"Ah, bless her. That sure is useful."

"So you are starting to work tomorrow?" Sherry asked "Back at Terra Save?"

"Oh, not exactly...what exactly am I doing again?" Claire said looking at Helena and Leon.

" DSO Special Research department." Leon replied "You just do what you do best…"

"Blowing assholes up?"

She saw Leon laugh and Claire smiled.

"No, being a nerd…."

"Ah, don't I get some action?"

"I'll think about it…."

"So Claire is working with the DSO now?" Sherry said happily "That means we get to see each other more often!"

"Claire will be stationed somewhere else though… not in DSO HQ. She'll come around every now and then, but not permanently…" Leon said shaking his head "but you are welcome to visit her here."

"Well, that's better than nothing."

The rest of the afternoon was nice and calm. Sherry had stayed a few hours just to chat with Claire about random stuff and Helena would often participate in their conversation, but Leon prefered to stay out of their girl's talk. Claire couldn't help but look at him amused every now and then, knowing that he was most likely bored. By the time Sherry had decided that it was time to go home, the sun had already gone down.

Claire was sitting in a white and illuminated greenhouse fidgeting with a handful of white flowers scattered on her lap. The flowers had a curious appearance: large, with multiple white petals and a pistil surrounded by multiple golden-colored fibers; the petals were soft and delicate and gave off a sweet and aromatic fragrance.

" _Selenicereus grandiflorus…"_ a voice whispered behind her and Claire automatically looked up.

Her doppelganger was walking in circles around her, The girl was playing with an object between her hands, but Claire could not see what it was.

"The queen of the night…" the girl kept saying softly "a beautiful flower that grows from a body of thorns, blooms one night in years and withers within the hours of dawn. But of course you already knew that. After all...whatever I know, you know it as well..."

"Sometimes, however, it seems you know more than I do…"

Her doppelganger shook her head and crouched in front of her. Her own eyes locked with hers.

"I only know what you know." she said softly " You just forgot what you already know…"

"I wished I didn't"

"You don't know what you wish...it's not that you can't remember; it is that you _don't_ want to remember…"

"I don't want to remember? Why?"

"I can ask you the same question? _Why?"_

Claire looked at her young doppelganger with a look that made it clear that her mind was full of questions; but the girl didn't say anything more.

"Think. Didn't you remember Chris when you _thought?"_

Claire let out a moan of frustration; her doppelganger always had to be so cryptic. It was clear that she had the answers Claire wanted to find so desperately, but the girl would never give her the answers so easily.

"a garland of poppies binds her peaceful brow, black dreams trailing after her…( **Ovid, Fasti)..."** her doppelganger mumbled "...seems we've been found…our time has to come to an end..."

Claire saw her young counterpart vanish before her eyes and surroundings began to lose brightness. A dark mist began to wrap the light like hungry tentacles and Claire let out a moan of horror.

Suddenly, the girl felt something wet and warm in her hands and when she looked down, her face paled in horror. The flowers had disappeared, replaced by what appeared to be parts of bodies that were stripped and bloodied; her hands and clothes were covered in blackened blood. As the young woman felt her breathing stir and her heart begin to beat furiously, a threatening roar echoed behind her and intense pain bombarded all her senses as she felt cold iron claws surrounding her body.

Claire suddenly got up from the bed; her forehead was covered with drops of cold sweat and her shoulders trembled with her painful and agitated breathing. The lack of air triggered a strong cough that Claire tried to choke by covering her mouth. The last thing she wanted was to wake up Leon, who was sleeping in the continuous bedroom.

After a couple tiring minutes, the cough finally stopped and when she lowered her hand, the woman noticed the crimson liquid that covered her pale hand; her head had began to hurt and she was feeling dizzy. It took her a couple minutes to gather enough strength to get up and enter the bathroom to wash her hands. The headache had gotten better, but now she was feeling awfully drained.

Claire looked at her hands and the images from her dream began to fill her head. She wasn't sure of what they meant; but it wasn't the first time she had seen blood in her hands. Her doppelganger had said the reason she couldn't remember was because she didn't _want_ to remember; if the blood was a sign of something...maybe it was related to why she couldn't remember, but thinking about it just made her head hurt again. She would think about it later.

Claire let out a sigh and returned to the room; the clock on her table read 5:45 am. There was no point on trying to sleep again, so she decided to get ready and head out to prepare breakfast. Leon wasn't up yet; but she was sure that the man would wake up soon, so she began working on the food.

"You're up early…" a voice said a few minutes later.

Claire looked up and saw Leon looking at her curiously from the second floor. Like her, he was already dressed up and ready.

"I am an early riser…" she smiled at him. She wasn't going to tell him about the real reason she was awake "So are you it seems. Come day, breakfast is almost done…"

Leon nodded and went down the stairs while Claire put the dishes on the breakfast table. It was a simple breakfast: toast and eggs.

"You know you don't have to cook all the time, right?"

"Yeah, but it's been a while since I actually cooked for someone. It's kind of therapeutic…"

That was half a lie; it was true that she had not cooked for anyone else for a long time and the prospect of cooking only for herself had made her do it very little; but the action of preparing the meal helped her to distract herself.

"How did you sleep?" Leon asked her. He'd taken the habit of asking that question every morning and she wondered if Saya had told him about her sleeping problems.

"It was okay, I think…" she lied. She thanked the layers of makeup that covered any sign of her lack of good sleep.

"You sure…?"

"Yeah, I am sure...now eat."

Leon seemed like he was going to say something else, but instead, the man began eating his food. Claire didn't have much appetite, but she forced the food down as best as she could.

"So...what's the plan today?" she asked.

"I'm taking you DSO HQ, first. We'll be having a meeting there…"

"A meeting?"

"Yes, with Dr. Chambers and members of BSAA."

"By BSAA you mean Chris…"

"Smart girl…"

Claire smiled and shook her head. Of course her brother would be there. It didn't matter where he was, he'd find a way to get in any meeting concerning her.

"Well...sounds like it'd be fun day…"

Perhaps the word fun wasn't exactly the right way to describe it. As soon as they stepped out from Leon's apartment, Claire had to stop being Claire Redfield and become Clara Kennedy, at least in public. She was glad that at least she could be herself while she was in the car.

This was the first time she stepped into the DSO office. She'd visited BSAA many times, but she had never had an excuse to come visit Leon; especially when the man spent more time overseas than in his office. The place wasn't too different from any other organization's building. As soon as Claire stepped into the building she instinctively scanned her surroundings; before she even realized it she had already located all the emergency areas, ventilation entries and other random things.

 _Old habits are hard to forget._

As soon as her inner voice had spoken a wave of other voices resounded in her head. Voices that she could not recognize.: " _We need to use this to survive…"; "Pay attention...or you'll die…";"Details are the key. Always remember to pay attention to the details…"; " Even the smallest crack can make the difference…"_

"Ah, agent Kennedy! What a surprise to have you here."

The new voice made Claire wake up from her sudden trance. She realized that they were standing in front of the security table where one of the guards was greeting Leon with a grinning face.

"Good morning, Baker."

"Heard an interesting rumor recently. People say you got married…"

"They do, huh?"

"Yeah, crazy stuff…" the guard named Baker laughed "I mean...that's a bit random. The almighty hear breaker Leon S. Kennedy...married?"

Claire tugged his sleeve and stared at him with a smirk.

" _WHat did I tell you Leon?"_

"Oh,,,"

The guard had just noticed Claire's present beside Leon. The man was now looking at her curiously.

"Friend of yours, agent Kennedy?" he asked with a smirk.

Claire was about to reply, but Leon was a bit faster than her. The agent had already grabbed Claire's hand in his.

"No, my wife, actually…"

Claire had to cover her mouth to drown a laugh when the guard choked and almost fell from his seat. The man's face was priceless,

"W...Wife?" he coughed "You...mean the rumors were real?"

"That's how it looks, no?" Leon replied looking at Claire "Let me introduce you. This is Clara, my wife…"

Claire lowered her free hand and did, what she considered, the most lady like gesture she'd done in her life. She was supposed to do everything that was unlike her, after all. The woman smiled a the guard.

"Hello, it's a pleasure to meet a friend of Leon."

The guard was at loss of words. He kept opening and closing his mouth without knowing what to say. Claire wasn't sure if she should laugh or not, but she turned to Leon and found the blonde tilting his head at her amused.

"H...h...hi….I'm Ryan Baker, at your service Mrs. Kennedy…"

"Just Clara will do fine." she smiled.

"Well, it was nice talking to you, Baker; but we gotta go…"

"Of, course…! Oh, but Mrs...Clara, you need to sign the guest book…"

"Not necessary. She works with the DSO…." Leon quickly said; he rested his hand on the small of her back "Let's go, _honey."_

"Good day, Mr. Baker…"

The man waved at them, too stunned to say anything else; once they were in the elevator Claire let out a laugh.

"Well, see what I meant? It really is hard to imagine Leon S. Kennedy happily married after all…"

"Guess I just need to prove myself…" he replied holding her hand "And my endless love for you…"

"Wait ...what?"

Before Claire could finish processing what Leon was trying to say, the man pulled her against him and just as the elevator doors opened, Leon bent down slightly, bringing his face close to hers.

" _What the hell are you doing, Leon?"_

Claire could feel her face flush and then she heard gasps of surprise. Leon smirked and pushed himself away from her. A group of people were standing in front of the open doors and Claire could see the shock and disbelief in their faces; even a bit of anger in the women's faces.

"Oh...good morning." Leon said nonchalantly as if nothing had happened. Claire was a little too flustered to say anything.

"Kennedy?" one of the men asked. He had sand colored hair and brilliant green eyes that were open wide as plates.

"Hammill…" Leon greeted him.

"Heh...isn't it a little too early to be seducing innocent ladies?" he joked entering the elevator.

Claire could sense the hateful and envious looks that the women were sending at her as the crowd entered the small place.

" _Well, thank you Leon. Now I've got half of your office's female population in line to curse me…"_

"Not quite…"

"Ah, come on, Leon…" a smaller man with black hair said patting Leon's shoulder "You just scared the poor girl to dead. Hello, pretty first day of work? Don't mind this sassy guy here…"

"Eh…"

"Yeah, not all of us are lady killers like him. That's not exactly the best way to start your first day of work…"

"Huh...funny. I remember someone's first day of work wasn't that good either…" Claire mumbled and she saw Leon snort,

"What did you say, pretty one?"

"Nothing…."

"I'm Oswald Hammil, by the way…agent Hammill if you like it better; and this guy here is Alex Cook; my partner…"

"We are Leon's pal's here, right , Leon?" Alex said elbowing the blonde agent.

"Yeah, we know this guy's antics. Don't look too much into it, he can't help but be a lady killer. It's part of who he is...you're not the first one to fall victim to it…"

"Oh...Really?"

Claire looked at Leon amused and the man shook his head.

"You know that's a lie, Hammill…" Leon said crossing his arms.

"Well, maybe you're not usually that straight forward...but you sure have your touch when it come to women."

"I'm sure he does…" Claire snorted.

"By the way, Kennedy...what's all this blabbering about you getting married?"

Claire realized the suddenly all the talking in the elevator had ceased and everyone was paying attention to their conversation.

"Who said it was blabbering?"

"Ah, come on. There's no way that rumor is true…"

Yeah, Kennedy. You're not a family guy after all..."

Claire snorted and Leon frowned at her.

"Sorry to disappoint you, Hammill; but the rumor is truth…"

Claire could swear that the temperature in the place had dropped.

"What? Don't te...you really got married?"

Leon replied with a grave nod.

"No way...to who? Do we know her…?"

" _Oh, great ...here it comes."_

"You just met her…"

"What?"

Leon grabbed Claire's hand again and Claire wished she could stop blushing.

"This is my wife, Clara…."

If the situation had been different, Claire would have found the look on the men's faces absolutely hilarious; but she was uncomfortably aware of the eyes that were focusing on her at the moment.

"Oh dear, heaven…" Alex said shocked "I'm so sorry pal, I didn't know she was your wife...geez…"

The elevators bell rang and Claire was grateful to see that they had made it to their floor. She didn't know if she could handle all the curious looks on her at the moment. She and Leon walked out of the elevator and Claire waited until the doors had closed before glaring at Leon.

"Was that necessary?"

"That should convince them.."

"You're a smartass…" Claire shook her head "You're lucky I like you, or I'd kick your sassy butt…"

"Lucky me, then.." he snorted "This way…"

Claire followed Leon to a large meeting room. She didn't know what she was expecting to find, but as they opened the door, she saw some familiar faces. Hopkins and Adams were sitting in front of a large screen. The screen was was parted in two sections, one of them showed Chris serious face while the left one showed Rebecca.

"Ah...Leon, just in time."

"Clai...Clara...it's good to see you. How have you been?" Chris asked immediately.

Claire smiled at her brother and winked at him.

"Hello, Chris. I'm good. Thanks for the concern…"

"That's good to hear. Well done so far Leon…"

"I said I'd take care of her, didn't I?" Leon snorted.

"SInce all of us are here...should we start?"

"Yes, of course…"Adams agreed "Please, take seat you two. Rebecca, I assume that instroductions are not necessary…"

"No, sir. I was already acquaintanced with Cla...ra." Rebecca replied "It's good to see you again."

"The same I say…"

"Did you have a chance to review the data that was sent you? I know...you probably have been busy, but..."

Claire smiled and shook her head. SHe had met Rebecca a few times, and she remember that woman was always shy, modest and considerate. No one would think she was the only survivor of STARS Team Bravo and a experienced doctor when to bioorganic subjects.

" Never mind." Claire said resting her hands on the table" I already checked the data you sent me."

"THen you already know the situation…" Rebecca sighed tiredly"I was just explaining it to everyone. We already tried all the cell lines we had in the institute...none of them have given any results so far…"

"Tried _in vivo?!_

"We considered it, but since we have no clues about this virus, we can't risk infecting a living being...what if gets out of control? We won't have anything to stop it..."

"Well...considering our current situation, I believe that cell tryouts would only delay our work. Trying to find a target host blindly would only be a waste of time and resources…"  
"I agree with that, but without the virus pathology; it's hard for to define a gene that we could use as reference to amplify. We already tried a PCR with all the the primers we had in stock and none of them amplified… too many factors we can't control. "

"Tried with a Rapid PCR?"  
"Rapid?"

" Yeah. Unlike traditional PCR analysis, RAPD does not require any specific knowledge of the DNA sequence of the target organisms the segment of the DNA will or will not amplify depending on positions that are complementary to the primers' sequence. For example, no fragment is produced if primers annealed too far apart or 3' ends of the primers are not facing each other. Therefore, if a variation at the site that was previously complementary to the primer occurs a PCR product will not be produced.".

Claire was almost 100% sure that the only person who had understood what she'd just suggested was probably Rebecca. THe rest of the men in the room were silent as they listened to the exchange between the two woman.

"I've never used RAPD-PCR to be honest…"  
"The PCR product will result in fragments of the genome that we can process and manipulate to obtain the the sequence of the virus. It doesn't matter how mutated the virus is, there are some preserved segments that should get us some important data..."

"You mean, .it would require manual assembly, who would do that?" Rebecca said shocked.

"I can do that…" Claire replied "It's not the first time I try that. It's usually easier just to design a primer but if we have no data from the virus, I guess this is our best chance… I might even try using multiplex...that way I can compare individual segments with gene data in our library..."

"But...assembling the sequences one by one…"Rebecca said tilting her head "That's…just too much work for one person...I couldn't ask you to do that considering..."

"Look, there are things far more important now. I can do the assembly I don't really have to put up the whole genome, there certain gene sections that are common in virions, if I can get those right the rest of the job will be a piece of cake…"  
"I really don't want you to be overworking yourself just when you've just returned…" Chris said with a frown.

"I won't be. YOu forget I have a team. We can work this out, hopefully in less than 48h if we are lucky. We just need the virion sample or the DNA extract and I'll start right away…"

Rebecca bit her lip as she pondered the offer. The young woman eventually sighed and nodded.

"I understand. I will make the arrangements for the sample to be sent right away."

"Thank you…"

"You shouldn't be thanking me, I mean...you're doing such a big favor to us…" Rebecca quickly said "And you just ...well, came back and all…"

"Not big deal...I've been doing for the past 4 years or so…" Claire smiled "Dealing with alien virus is my thing, Rebecca… figuring out the vaccine, that's yours. Leave the tedious work to us..."

"Are you sure you can take this?" Adam asked looking at her seriously.

"You never seemed to doubt me when I sent you reports before…" Claire said looking back at him with a frown.

"Oh, do not doubt your abilities. I am more than aware of the extent of your work, but I'm considering your health, dear…"

Claire let out a sigh. She thanked everyone's concerns, but she wasn't a fragile doll. She was more or less recovered and ready to work.

"I am alright. Besides you have Leon and Helena keeping me from overworking myself to death, right?"

"Point taken…" Hopkins nodded "I am sure neither Kennedy nor Harper will allow her to proceed if her health is compromise."

"No, we wouldn't…"

"Good, then I think that's pretty much all we can discuss for now. We still have some business to discuss with Redfield, but you two are excused now. It'll be good if our new member gets to know the surroundings." Hopkins suggested.

"I will take care of that. See you later, sir."

With nothing more to interest them in the meeting, Claire and Leon left the room. To Claire's great relief, they did not meet any of Leon's colleagues on the way, however, she was more than certain that the gossip about her and Leon would have already spread throughout the building more quickly than an outbreak of the C-virus.

"We're sharing offices. None of us will spend much time in here anyway…"

"You know...you guys are making me look like the clingy kind of wife...eg…"

"As if...as far as I can tell, I _am_ the clingy one…"

"You know that and I know that...but the rest of world doesn't know."

"Huh, want me to put a more obvious clingy act?"

"Don't you dare, Leon S. Kennedy. I'm still going to make you pay for that little trick you put on the elevator…"

"Sorry, that came too natural…"

"Natural? What?"

Leon just smiled and guided her through the corridors until they reached a small office. It was a small, unfussy room with white walls and a desk by a window. At first glance it was clear that the place was little used.

"Well, it has a nice view."

Leon smiled and picked a couple of folders from his table and turned back to Claire. He handed her one of them and Claire took it curiously.

"This a copy of the report on the retrieval of the viral sample that Dr. Chambers was studying. I'm not sure if it'd come in handy, but I thought you might want to have it."

"You know me well." Claire smiled taking the folder and flipping through it.

Leon shook his head as he watched her looking through the papers. The report was quite long and Claire made a mental note to use it as bed reading that night.

"We'll head to your lab soon; and then. you can start with your nerdy stuff." Leon crossed his and leaned casually against the desk.

"Ah, you're calling me a nerd now?" Claire replied pointing at his chest "Since you are my clingy husband now; who knows...maybe you'll learn something , too."  
"Biology was never my best subject…"

"You don't have to be a biology lover to learn. I warn you, I'll be spending a lot of time down there and if you…" she added playfully "are as clingy as you claim to be, you'll be stuck with me a lot. Which reminds me...I gotta tell Wallace to grant you and Helena access to the lab..."

Claire pulled out her phone and looked at the screen silently. There were a lot of things to do and she wouldn't rest until she had it done..


	42. Part II: Chapter 22

**I am so rorry for the delay. I went through some personal issues the past days and I wasn't feeling like writing.**

 **Here's the new chap.**

* * *

 _Leon_

Leon had woken up that morning to the smell of fresh coffee and breakfast; something he had yet to grow used to. Claire was pacing around the kitchen space, busying herself with preparing the morning meal and he had stood there for a while simply watching the woman work.

The agent's thoughts had been slightly scattered over the past few days. On numerous occasions, Leon found himself looking at the woman from afar, paying special attention to the her features.  
The last three nights living together had given him the opportunity to see different facets of Claire. Some of her mannerisms were familiar, little things that he knew from years of being her friend and some other things that were very Claire, but that he had never had the opportunity to see; however, there were things that were simply different and too unlike the young Redfield.

He had noticed that the light in Claire's room was usually on; even late at night which meant the Claire slept with the lights on. Claire was still terrified of the darkness even though she was in a place where nothing could harm her. He was worried, but he knew that it'd take time to fix some things, especially when he had no way of knowing what sort of things had been done to her.

Teasing Claire was definitely not the way to fix things, but he couldn't help but enjoy the flushed and flustered panicked face Claire would do whenever she felt embarrassed. Their little scene in the elevator had served its purpose, now his colleagues knew Claire's relationship with him and that would keep them away from her. It was moral code between agents: no flirting with someone else's girl. The farther they stayed from Claire, the less likely they'd find her out; at least that was what he kept telling himself instead of admitting he was actually annoyed by them flirting at Claire.

The meeting was over almost as fast as it had began, and with nothing more to interest them Claire and Leo had left the meeting room quietly. Their next stop would be his office, which would soon become Claire's, too. Hunnigan had arranged for Claire to share offices with him. It was a good plan considering that Claire would practically not use it since she would spend most of her time in her own office in her laboratory, but having her name assigned to an office made it more credible.

"We're sharing offices. None of us will spend much time in here anyway…"he said. That wasn't a lie, he'd been given that office the moment he had joined the DSO and up to the date, he used it very little, mostly when he had to write down reports.

"You know...you guys are making me look like the clingy kind of wife...eg…"

Leon smiled at her words. No one would dare to judge Claire as a clingy woman, but Clara was a completely different story.

"As if...as far as I can tell, I _am_ the clingy one…"

"You know that and I know that...but the rest of world doesn't know."

"Huh, want me to put a more obvious clingy act?"

"Don't you dare, Leon S. Kennedy. I'm still going to make you pay for that little trick you put on the elevator…"

"Sorry, that came too natural…"

"Natural? What?"

Leon just smiled and guided her through the corridors until they reached a small office. Leon had never bothered to personalize his office so the small place was plain and lifeless. Now that he thought about it, Claire had described his apartment in similar way when she had first stepped into it.

"Well, it has a nice view…"

Leon smirked as he picked a couple of folders from his table and turned back to Claire.

"This a copy of the report on the retrieval of the viral sample that Dr. Chambers was studying. I'm not sure if it'd come in handy, but I thought you might want to have it."

"You know me well." Claire smiled taking the folder and flipping through it.

Leon shook his head as he watched her look through the papers. The woman's cerulean eyes were scanning through it fast and smooth;the light that came through the window made her look as a beautiful ethereal creature and the agent had to shake his head to clear of his thoughts.

 _Focus, Leon. What the hell are doing?_

"We'll head to your lab soon; and then, you can start with your nerdy stuff." Leon said. He crossed his arms and leaned casually against the desk.

"Ah, you're calling me a nerd now?" Claire replied pointing at his chest "Since you are my clingy husband; who knows...maybe you'll learn something , too."  
"Biology was never my best subject…" he replied frankly.

In fact he had never been much of science fan. He did well with sports and math, but sciences? It wasn't that he wasn't smart enough. His grades at school were pretty decent, perhaps not enough to reach Claire's level, but he wasn't a bad student. He just never liked sciences.

"You don't have to be a biology lover to learn. I warn you, I'll be spending a lot of time down there and if you…" she added playfully "are as clingy as you claim to be, you'll be stuck with me a lot. Which reminds me...I gotta tell Wallace to grant you and Helena access to the lab..."

Leon saw Claire pull out her phone and look at the screen silently. She didn't move, she simply stood there looking at the small device's screen as if in a trance.

The blond agent uncrossed his arms and reached out to caress her shoulder, however, before his fingers could even touch the fabric of her blouse, a shy knock on the door made both start.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I interrupt something?"

Leon looked at the door where Hunnigan was standing with a curious look.

"Hunnigan...what a surprise. You don't usually come visit me." he said with a frown.

Hunnigan adjusted her glasses and stood dignified. After so many years of working together, the woman was still excessively cordial when they interacted.

"I made an exception today…" she replied "I wanted to meet your wife personally. That's all. I am Ingrid Hunnigan, pleased to meet you…"

Hunnigan smiled and extended her hand at Claire. The redheaded was evidently shocked, but she quickly took the operator's hand and shook it politely.

"The pleasure is mine...I believe you already know my name so, I won't introduce myself." she replied shaking her head "I've heard much about you. I am glad I finally got to meet you."

"The feelings are mutual. Leon has spoken a lot of you…"

"He has, has he?" Claire asked with a frown.

"Yes, about the many times you have saved him from making a mess, of course."

"Don't we share the credit for that? I know from a trustful source that you have saved his reckless little butt countless times…"

"Look who's talking about reckless, what happened to " _if I can't shoot it, I blow it up_ "?"

"That's different; reckless is part of my charm…" Claire replied to him with a wink; a gesture that was simply Claire's trademark.

Claire and Hunnigan started chatting like old friends, and even though Leon knew that he was probably the topic of conversation, he could not help but smile.

Claire definitely had the ability to socialize easily, compared to her brother who would usually scare off any attempt of social interaction. Actually, Leon had always suspected that Claire would get on very well with Hunnigan if they ever met and he found some satisfaction at seeing he hadn't been wrong.

"I believe that, from now on, I, too, will be on your care, Ms. Hunnigan…"

"Please, you can call me Ingrid. Leon is just too stubborn to use my first name..:"

"Not at all, he's just being shy…"

Claire giggled and despite knowing he was being teased, instead of being annoyed, he felt actually very content. There was something that felt strangely good about having Claire meet his colleagues.

"All I can say...is welcome" Hunnigan said with a friendly smile.

"Thank you."

"So...did you come all the way here just to get acquaintanced with Clara?"

"Technically….yes. " Hunnigan nodded "I must admit I was curious after certain ...rumour I heard earlier…"

"Rumour?" Leon asked crossing his arms.

"Yes, some people were commenting about meeting you and your wife in an interesting situation at the elevator this morning…" Hunnigan said looking at Leon with a frown.

Claire dropped the folder and choked. The agent looked at the woman and a smirk crossed his face when he saw Claire's panicked face.

"I knew that would spread faster than the C-virus…"Claire said sourfully as she picked the folder.

"C-virus?" Hunnigan asked shocked with the metaphor.

Leon snorted. Only Claire Redfield would have the guts and the humor to compare the situation to a virus outbreak; and he loved that about her.

"Oh, this is your fault" Claire glared at him "Why are you smiling?"

"Because you're all worked out about this…"

"And why aren't you?"

"If I was concerned about that I wouldn't have done it in the first place, don't you think?"

"I don't believe you…" Claire moaned.

"Besides… I told you, you look cute when you're flustered…."

"Leon...don't …"

"If I didn't know better.." Hunnigan chuckled shaking her head "I'd say you two are in the just married mood…"

Leon chuckled and he noticed a couple of secretaries outside of his office eavesdropping on their conversation. The blond smiled mischievously; he knew Claire was probably going to be upset, but it was a good opportunity to add fuel to their act and see her a little more flustered.

"Alright, sorry about that. Don't get mad…" Leon said apologetically "I promise you can have your payback when we get home. I am all yours…"

"Leon…you just made that sound so wrong..."

The loud screech that came from outside his office let him know that Claire hadn't be the only one to take his words the wrong way. Claire's face was priceless as she realized what he had just done.

"I think you two should be going now." Hunnigan said shaking her head "Helena must be wondering why you two haven't arrived."

"She's waiting for us?"

"Yes, in your laboratory…"

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go, _honey."_ Claire said grabbing his arm "Thanks for coming. Pass by our home sometime. We could have a cup of tea...or something."

"I'd be delighted…"

"See you later…"

Claire smiled at Hunnigan amiably as she tugged on Leon's arm. The blonde said goodbye to operator with a hand gesture and walked away guided by Claire.

Hunnigan watched them go with an amused look,

As he expected, Claire's anger didn't last long. By the time they had reached the car, the woman had most likely forgiven him. Another woman would have quickly accepted his words, but Claire was so immune to his flirting that she wouldn't take him seriously.

They arrived at the lab after 20 min of traffic. The laboratory was hidden in a subterranean structure camouflaged as a small flower shop in the vicinity of Terra Save HQ building. He knew the place; when he still believed that Claire was dead, he had visited the store often to buy flowers for her memorial.

Leon was impressed with the level of security that the place possessed; It was like a much improved version of the systems used by Umbrella. But on second thought, he shouldn't have been so surprised; the system had probably been Claire's idea and with the experience that the woman had infiltrating those laboratories, it was not surprising that the security system was an improved one by far.

"You give me too much credit…" Claire said when he commented about it while she inputted a security code and opened a hidden elevator "I just made the suggestions. All the security system was Wallace's doing. He might be an extremely awkward guy, but he has his merits...he's a brilliant computer engineer."

"You had a computer engineer as you security guard?"

"Cyber security to be more reasonable, but it was his own idea. He didn't want to be in high post and he was happy working in there with minor stuff. Of course, his primarily job was with me…" Claire shrugged "It's good to have him on our side. I am good with lab work, but I suck with computers..:"

"So what other brilliant people are part of your team. It seems that special gifts are a requirement to get a place in here…"

"We are not a college fraternity, Leon. As long as you have a will to work and morality, you are more than welcome to work with us...of course everyone knows the risk that comes with the job."

"I see… so Hiwamura, too, right?"  
"Yes, Saya is our medical support. It isn't exactly her major, but she's a wise woman. She is valuable on our team."

"And who else…?"

"Dhriti Sanaya. You'll meet her soon enough. She's an epidemiologist I met some years ago. She's really good at tracking epidemic sources…"

"Those are very few members. You have it rough with work loads, I suppose…"

"Nah, we are quite efficient...though we are a peculiar team, I admit. Just think about it a Biologist, a psychiatrist, an epidemiologist and a computer engineer…"

"I admit it doesn't sound like a medical research team."

"Well, that works on our side, doesn't it? No one would ever suspect us."

The elevator finally came to a stop and the doors opened revealing a long white corridor. The corridor was well lit and Leon noticed the ultraviolet light lamps positioned strategically along the corridor. The place gave an air of evident sterility.

"Environmental disinfection…" Claire explained as she caught Leon looking at the lamp "We work with extremely dangerous agents, we need to be quite meticulous with sanitation. Those are dressing rooms. You'll need to get changed and cleaned up before entering or going out. I hope you don't mind…"

Claire led him to a small empty hall. There was nothing in there except two doors with plates and Claire was currently pointing at the right door.

"Even if I did, it is something that needs to be done."

"We are Biosafety Level 4, after all. I'd die before I let anything dangerous go out from this place. There are clothes in the lockers. Choose the ones that suits you better."

Leon nodded and the pair separated: each one entering the respective dressing room.

Like the hallway, the dressing room had an aspect of extreme cleanliness and sterility. There were two doors properly labeled as entry and exit; a section of showers and several lockers with clothes folded impeccably. Leon took the ones that corresponded to his size and cleaned up and dressed up according to the protocol.

When he came out through the entry door, he found Claire standing in a hall that was almost the exact replica of the hall where they had parted ways. THe woman was putting up her hair her patented ponytail.

"Hey, look at that…" she smiled looking at him "Only you can wear a scrub and make it look fashionable."

"You don't look that bad yourself…"

"Hush...Leon, hush. Come on, this way."

Claire led Leon to the wide areas where there were several cubicles. Leon recognized the place as the "offices" of the team members.

Leon recognized the man sitting in the first cubicle; the first time he had seen him, he wore a black uniform with a tag that identified him as a member of the security team. Now, he wore a dark green scrub and wore a pair of thick earphones. He was busy typing something in his computer. The other people in the room were Dr. Hiwamura, who was sitting in her chair in front of Helena, and short indian woman who was looking at her computer screen and supposedly, showing something to Helena who seemed quite interested. There was something oddly familiar about the woman.

"Well, there they are!" Hiwamura smiled "Welcome home, Claire."

At the mention of the name, the indian woman raised her head and looked at Claire with glittering eyes. Wallace, who had pushed back his chair, took off his headphones and looked at Claire with eyes wide open.

"Red?" Wallace cried out.

"Goodness, Claire!" the indian woman said with a thick accent. She jumped out of her seat and hugged Claire lovingly " Saya told us you were back, but I couldn't believe it until I saw it with my own eyes…"

"Red! Red! Red!" Wallace exclaimed enthusiastically embracing both women.

"Ahhh...Wallace! Let go!" the indian woman growled.  
"Ah...come on" he said hugging them tighter " the occasion deserves a group hug! Come over here, Saya!"

"Don't drag me into this, Wallace…" the japanese woman said raising her hands.

"Don't be a grumpy cat, Saya….come here!"

"That's enough, Wallace...you're squishing me." Claire groaned.

"Ah...you bunch of grumpy women…" Wallace replied letting go disappointed.

"Claire is a married woman now, you can't keep using those excuses to hug Claire…" Saya teased.

"Arh...fake marriages don't count…" Wallace pouted " As far as I am concerned, I still have a chance with Red…"

"You sure are persistent boy…"

"Ok, stop it already. Wallace, get a grip, I'm not in mood for your jokes…" Claire said crossing her arms "Now that I am back, you guys are not allowed to slack off. We have work to do...so hush."

"Ah fine, fine boss…"

The Indian woman laughed and turned to look at Leon with a smile; At that moment, Leon realized why the woman was so familiar.

"It's been a while, Mr. Kennedy."

"You two know each other?" Claire asked surprised.

"Acquaintances only. Mr. Kennedy here, came often to buy flowers at my shop. I never had the chance to introduce myself. I am Dhriti Sanaya, the owner of the flower shop above us."

"Oh, you bought flowers from Dhriti?" Claire asked surprised " For a girlfriend?"

Leon snorted. He wasn't going to tell Claire that he'd bought flowers for her.

"Not...exactly…" he replied and he heard Hiwamure let out a soft chuckle behind them.

"Mr. Kennedy sure has a peculiar taste for flowers. " Dhriti said "The first time he entered the shop he was certainly lost. When I asked him if he needed help, he told me the flowers were for a special woman…"

"You just needed to buy roses, Leon. Those never fail…" Claire laughed.

"Oh, I told him that; but he clearly stated that the bouquet had to be of orchids…"

Leon coughed.

"Orchids?" Claire said shocked.

"Peculiar, isn't it?

"Ok, ok...let's not put the young man into an awkward situation, shall we?" Hiwamura interfered "Claire, the viral sample arrived a little while ago. The biosafety room is prepared, should we go?"

"Ah? Oh, of course…." Claire said "Get yourselves comfortable. I gotta go...if you need anything just ask Dhriti or Wallace…" she added looking at Helena and Leon.

Claire and Hiwamura left the offices and went to the laboratory area leaving the rest of the group alone.

Leon let out a breath he had been holding without realizing it. The agent did not know why he was so, unreasonably, worried that Claire would realize that those flowers had been meant for her.

"Oh, well...that's going to take a while. Please take seat." Dhriti smiled "Can I offer you something? Tea or coffee?

"Coffee is fine…"

"You take care of those two, Dhitri. I've got a war to win."

Dhriti rolled her eyes and walked to the kitchenette to pour Leon a cup of coffee from the pot; in the meantime, Wallace had put back his earphones and sat back in his cubicle again. The indian woman walked back and handed Leon the cup of coffee and sat back on her chair.

"I've been watching him for a while now…" Helena commented looking at the man "What is he ...doing?"

"Oh, he's playing…"

"P-playing?"Helena asked bemused.

"Videogames…"

"What?"

"It's part of the security system.." Wallace explained " If anyone would tried to hack into our server all they just find all of my gaming datalog…"

"How did you do that?" Helena asked surprised.

"I'm a genius that's how. I encrypted our mainserver; set up some back doors and firewalls; put a couple bugs, glitches and viral codes and re routed the IP. So if by chance someone...if even possible... could surpass my intellect and go through all the barriers, they would only find the data of SilverWulf 26…." Wallace replied without stop playing "That's my gamers tag, by the way. Believe no one would ever link a gamer with a secret laboratory studying biological weapons to prevent humanity's fall...oh, shit. This bastard just stole an elixir from me! THat's it...this is war…."

"Don't mind him. He might be a genius,but he sure has modesty issues. At least he knows what he's doing…"

"Yeah, I do. So to keep the alibi credible, I must play as many games as I can…"

"That's a poor excuse. You just want to play while you work…" Dhriti said frowning at him"Despite all, the system works and that's the only reason why Claire allows him play games in here."

"Aren't you supposed to be the cyber security guard of Terra Save, too?" Leon asked looking at the man.

"I am; but there's the keyword: cybersecurity. I can actually work from anywhere as long as I got a computer. I do have to do office hours twice a week though. Maintenance and stuff, the rest of the days I'm here...kicking some newbies asses…ahah...take that, now that relic is mine!"

Dhitri rolled her eyes and looked at Leon and Helena, who seemed visibly stunned.

"You will get used to it. It's not as bad as it seems…"

"What about the flower shop?" Leon asked.

"What about it? My flower shop is real; I did sell you the orchids you so desperately wanted Claire not to find out were for her." the indian said chuckling "I work there when I am not needed down here. I am an epidemiologist; I'm not usually required until an outbreak has taken place, so the rest of the time I keep our facade upthere…"

"You don't work with Terra Save?"

"Oh, no. I don't. Claire is a good friend. I met her when there was an attack in my hometown in India. She saved my sister and when she told me about this I offered to help."

"That's noble." Helena said.

"We all have seen the things those virus do to people and I knew Claire was an honest person that really wanted to help people with her studies...of course I would agree."

"I can't believe it...all this….happening right under our noses…" Helena said shaking her head.

"We do no harm. You can trust that…"

"I don't...I know you don't. All the info you gave us have helped a lot...it's just, amazing how you've managed to stay out of the map for so long…"

"We had help from higher ranks. Your boss, for example…" Dhriti shrugged.

"Yes, but still…"

"Simmons hid his activities for years before we revealed him and he was much less careful" Leon reasoned.

"I guess you're right…"

"Would you like to take a tour? I can show you around the place."

"That wouldn't be bad. We do need to do some recon " Leon nodded.

The truth was, Leon was curious about the place. Dhriti nodded and guided them outside the office. The laboratories turned out to be much bigger than Leon had originally imagined; and he realized that there was no way that Claire could have done this without the sponsorship from BSAA and DSO.

"These are the research rooms." Dhriti explained them as they walk "Virology, Parasitology & mycology and Bacteriology. Since the entry to those require protocol preparations, we won't go in, but Claire and Saya are in there, now. We can see them later when we pass the observation corridor. The room over there is Genetics _aka_ Claire's haven: her office is actually in there. We have another level below us for biological assays. Those are locked down, though...so you can't go there without permission."

The group turned a corner and came to a corridor with a long window that showed inside the laboratories. At the time only one of the laboratories was active and Leon and Helena saw Claire and Hiwamura working inside it. Both women wore biosecurity suits while manipulating a vial that Leon instantaneously recognized as one of the tubes they had recovered in Mexico.

"Well...they look like they know what they're doing…" Helena said crossing her arms "That's reassuring. Let's hope they can do what Chambers has been struggling with the past week…"

"Let's pray for the best." Dhriti nodded "Oh, I must go to the office for a second. I'll be right back.

The Indian woman walked away and Leon leaned against the window watching Claire work inside the lab. The woman moved naturally despite the safety suit she was wearing and that clearly limited her movement. At that moment, Claire turned around to say something to Hiwamura and coincidentally, her eyes met Leon's. She seemed surprised to find them there and Leon smiled at the puzzled face she was holding at them moment.

" _Want a virology lesson?_ " he saw her silently mouth at him.

Leon snorted and shook his head.

" _I pass."_ he silently mouthed back.

Claire made a resignation gesture.

" _Your loss…"_

Leon chuckled as Claire returned to her work.

"Okay, so a couple nights together and you already have telepathy?" Helena asked teasingly "I'd say you were going too fast, Leon, but then again, she's an old friend, isn't she?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, Helena…"

"Sure, you do. I don't think Ada has a taste for orchids. She's more a rose type…"

"So you can tell a woman's taste for flowers? Is it a female sixth sense?"

"It's called intuition…"Helena chuckled "Between us...If you asked me, I prefer Redfield from Ada. Don't get me wrong. Ada has helped us a couple times out there, but she's stabbed us in the back, too. Redfield just seems more like a woman who would take the bullet from you rather than hiding behind…"

"That's because she is. That's the problem. I guess it is something with Redfields, their self preservation means nothing compared to their hero complex…"

Leon might have sounded a little bitter, but the truth was that he found that little Redfield trait admirable; but as admirable as it was, he couldn't help but feel bitter about it if that meant that either sibling would willingly throw away their life if it meant protecting the innocent. That was exactly how _he_ had Claire the last time.

"Sounds noble…" Helena said "and maybe a little stupid...but then again, she was working with a humanitarian organization. You know when you first told me about her, I pictured her as one of those hippie like woman. I was surprised to see I was wrong. NOw I understand why Birkin looked up so much at her…"

"Sherry always idolized, Claire. She was her mother figure, her sister and her friend."

Helena nodded. She crossed her arms and tilted her head looking at the other two women work.

"Dr. Hiwamura told me her health isn't that good."

"What?" Leon immediately looked at Helena with a frown.

"She ran some test on her blood to check on her results didn't come out too well. Hiwamura said that the blood disorders she originally had seemed to have aggravated. She described it as... _a war between viruses_. It seems that the original effect from the T-phobos crashes in some way with the new virus in her body and in...a figurative way, they are fighting each other inside her. That's probably why she doesn't show mutation signs..."

"And…?" Leon asked concerned.

"She's not sure. She said she need more tests to see, but she did say that Claire suffering of anemia and very low platelets. By how she explained it, Claire has to be careful not to get injured since a small cut could cause a lot of blood loss. She will send us a report, but I thought you should know before you received it…"

"Does Claire know? Does Chris?"

"Hiwamura spoke to Chris earlier and Claire, well...not yet. She said that there's a chance that Claire can tell exactly what's really wrong with her, but she wants to approach the matter slowly. She doesn't know if...it might trigger something."

"What do you mean?"

"She says...that she hasn't made a psychiatric evaluation on Claire yet, so she doesn't know if they caused any _damage…"_

"Claire is not crazy."

"She didn't say it like that." Helena said shaking her head "but Claire had issues before, caused by the T-phobos. She doesn't know if what they did made it worse…"

Leon crossed his arms with a frown. He had spent a lot of time with Claire recently, and he had seen nothing that could make him doubt Claire mental health. It was true that there were some odd perks he had seen such her deathly fear to the dark and the way she sometimes seemed to space out, but it didn't mean that her mental health was wrong, did it?

"Hey, calm down. Hiwamura said she wasn't sure. So far Claire seemed to be fine, except for her memory issues. She just wanted to be cautious…"

Leon let out a sigh and rubbed his face tiredly.

"You know her better than I do, so...keep an eye open, okay? If you see anything odd, tell the doctor."

"I know...I will."

Leon looked back at the lab. Hiwamura and Claire seemed to have finished their work and both women were heading out of the place. The two agents stood there waiting for them to appear in the corridor. The two women didn't appear until about 40 minutes later. Claire was reading a silver notepad with a serious look while she listened to whatever the asian woman was telling her. Leon noticed something a little off on her walking.

"Oh, hey…" Claire said with a smile, but her voice was a little too weak for Leon's taste "You two are still there? The office is much more comfy you know?"

"We were waiting for you." Leon said looking at her. There was definitely something wrong with her look.

"Oh...the sample is amplifying now. It'd take about 3 h to end; then we'll need to do sequencing, so maybe you'll prefer to go somewhere more livable."

"The office sounds about right." Hiwamura agreed "Who knows, maybe Wallace will let you play with him. I think his new game can do multiplayer..."

" I pass…." Claire said shaking her head "I have a migraine, I don't think I can stand the flashy screens and all the shooting. You two could try out, though…"

"Are you okay?" Helena asked concerned.

"Yeah, too much thinking in one go." Claire chuckled "I'll have some pain killers and that should do."

"How about a nap?" Hiwamura suggested.

"Maybe that, too. I had forgotten how draining this was…."

"I told you it was too soon for you start working and so did Chris…"

"I know. It's nothing. I just need to catch up with the rhythm. Don't worry…"

"Ok, so...why don't you go to your office and I'll get you those pills?" HIwamura suggested "Sleep it off…"

"Yeah, I think I'll do that. I'll be in Genetics if you two need me "she added to Leon and Helena.

Both agents nodded and watched her walk down the corridor and disappear behind the door that Dhriti pointed as Claire's haven earlier.

"Is she alright?" Helena asked as they walked back "I already told , Leon...so he knows."

"Oh,. Yeah. I think she's okay. I just performed a marrow biopsy and aspiration on her, so she's a little weak and in pain. She needs to lay down for a bit..." Hiwamura replied "her incision was still bleeding a while ago, but I made sure the bleeding wasn't that severe before letting her out. I would keep an eye on that, though...when you get her home I mean. If the bleeding hasn't stopped tomorrow you should tell me right away. I gave her a Tranexamic Acid shot, to help out with the clotting...but you never know."

"She'll be okay?" Leon asked in haste.

"She should. The pain will be there for a few days, but if there's no bleeding, she should be alright."

"Do you have any idea of what this virus is?"

"Claire has a theory, but we still need more info to be sure. For now, all we can do is...wait…"

Leon frowned. Waiting was the thing he had never liked.


	43. Part II: Chapter 23

**Sorry, sorry...I know I should have updated, but I had been busy with real life. I'll try to keep up with updates as regular as I can.**

* * *

 _Chris_

 **BSAA, Cardigan Bay, Wales.**

 **November 27th, 15:25 hours.**

Chris had listened the exchange between Claire a Rebecca silently; he could grasp a couple of the things that both women were discussing; but most of it was just too complicated for him to care at all. All he needed to know was what he was fighting and how he could beat it. The rest of scientific blabbering was all Rebecca and Claire's thing; both seemed to understand each other without issues. When had his sister become such a virus nerd? He sure must have been too busy dealing with B.O.W.s the last few years, if he was so ignorant about her sister's academic interests.

Claire was convinced that she could figure out that virus out and naturally, Chris believed her; but he was concerned about his sisters health and her tendency, or rather the Redfield habit, of overworking to death; he could only trust that Leon would stand for his word and keep an eye over her, but perhaps he needed to have a word with him later.

"She's a brilliant woman. I can't believe you never introduced her to me before...I mean, academically speaking." Rebecca said happily "If she can really put this up, she'd have saved our necks considerably…"

"Honestly, I had not idea she was _that_ smart." Chris admitted.

"She's given us valuable information through the years. It's not a lie that we hold her in high esteem and we are all happy to have her back "Hopkins said "I regret that I didn't convince her to join the DSO earlier, she would definitely been more protected…"

"Well...she does honor her name when it comes to being stubborn." Adams laughed "Her original position made her happy, didn't it?"

"She likes working with people…." Chris said "She's always been good at that. In fact I always thought she would head for a medical career, but instead she took on sciences… very unexpected, I admit."

"Oh, but she does it really well…" Rebecca smiled "I would have never gone for random PCR's to identify a new virus. Well, she's a geneticist, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised…"

"Let's hope, she can figure this out soon." Hopkins sighed.

"So Redfield; tell me. Did you find anything with that lead you got…"

Chris let out a frustrated sigh.

"No. The only suspicious thing we found with that ship was the fact that it was floating randomly in the middle of the ocean. There was no hidden laboratories, no suspicious shipments, no bodies ; nothing. "

"Well, that's disappointing."Adam sighed.

"We haven't had that much luck either…" Hopkins said "I've got my best research agents trying to catch a trail of Mobius; but so far it's been futile. THey sure know how to hide themselves…"

"We will catch them. I'm not giving up on that. I'll have my payback for they did to my sister." Chris groaned.

"Of course we understand your anger, Chris." Adams said "but we must move carefully. .."

"I know that…"

"Without a lead...it seems quite difficult to catch their trail." Rebecca said sadly "Wish I could help more…"

"You focus on that virus, Rebecca. The rest, we can handle…" Chris said shaking his head "I don't know, but I am afraid that the only plausible lead we might get is ...Cla..ra; but I'm afraid that pushing her for answers...will have a bad result."

"I am not an expert in the area, but if forcing the memories out of someone sounds like it'd backfire somehow." Rebecca said.

"I agree.." Chris nodded "I don't want to that…"

"Then don't. We want to find these terrorists a soon as possible, but we won't compromise her wellbeing for it.." Adams said sternly.

"They will attack again. We can be sure of that..."

Chris leaned his back against the back of the chair and crossed his arms with his eyes fixed on the computer screen. The lack of information - and presence - of Mobius had him intrigued. Terrorist groups usually tended to have megalomaniacal tendencies and it was not uncommon for them to uphold their name and attract the attention of the media. Mobius's modus operandi was different. The group preferred to remain in the shadows and since the attack at the Terra Save Medical Center in Wales, they had not made an appearance again and it was as if the group had never existed.

In Chris's personal opinion, that behavior was much more dangerous than a group that carried out pompous propaganda every 72h. The situation itself gave him many doubts.

Mobius had made it clear that the attack in Wales had been merely motivated by Claire's presence. That left him thinking that future attacks could follow the same line.

But why would they be so determined to get Claire back? Not knowing the answer to that question only made him more uneasy.

"All we can do is wait, then…" Adams sighed.

"Sadly, yes…"Hopkins agreed.

"I heard the attack in Wales involved a new type of B.O.W…" Rebecca said.

"Yeah, there were three subjects actually, from the same type. We couldn't retrieve any tissue sample, since it got ruined with the sunlight…"

"Sunlight?" Rebecca asked confused "What do you mean?"

"The creatures seemed to have high resistance to firepower and physical attacks; but apparently they have a high level of Photosensitivity. In order to defeat them, Claire lured them out to the sunlight, or at least that was Claire's original plan. However, we didn't expect that the reaction was so violent, the deterioration was too heavy to recover any sample…"

"Claire knew that would happen?"

"I presume she did, otherwise she wouldn't have suggested that plan to begin with."

"But how did she know?"

Chris frowned. Truth be told, that same question had been circulating in his mind from the moment he read the message Claire had sent from Leon's phone. When he had questioned Claire, the woman seemed upset. Claire was not sure how she knew it, but it seemed that she had already faced those creatures before.

"Claire had faced them before, but she couldn't remember the details. She acted on pure instinct back there. She told us that she'd just known…" Chris answered.

"Cognitive memory, perhaps?" Rebecca suggested.

"That's what Hiwamura said. She believes Claire has a case of selective amnesia associated to traumatic experiences."

"You mean she forgot or blocked out some memories because they were too traumatic?" Rebecca said with wide eyes "That's terrible. I can't imagine how bad they must have been to cause that effect…"

"Yeah, that's why I'd rather let it be forgotten…" Chris said sadly "I know her memories could be helpful, but what if that causes Claire to suffer too much?"

"We understand, Redfield…" Adams said comprehensively "We won't force, Claire to remember…"

"Of course. We will figure a way to deal with those things."

Chris nodded and was grateful that the two leaders were sympathetic about his sister.

"Well, I think this is all we have to discuss for today. I'll be waiting for the full report asap, Redfield."

"Yes, sir. I'll have it ready for when I return to USA."

"Alright. Until then, Redfield. Take care…"

Chris remained staring at the screen even though the video call had ended several minutes ago. The man impatiently tapped the table with his fingers and suddenly the computer screen lit up with a new incoming call.

Chris hurriedly clicked the screen and, automatically, Dr. Hiwamura's face appeared before him.

"That was quick…" Dr. Hiwamura said tilting her head.

"I just had a call with Adams and Hopkins, I was already in front of the computer."

"Well, that makes sense." Hiwamura nodded "Anyway, as I promised, I am calling to report about the results of Claire's tests."

"And?"

"Well, the good news is that this is really our Claire, not a clone or anything alike. It's the perfectly imperfect Claire Redfield we all love…"

"I already knew that, but the reassurance is appreciated. What else? What about the virus?"

"The T-Phobos mutation is still there,no evident changes are visible so everything seems to be fine on that side. However, I found a viral agent in her blood. The concentration is really low, but it is there. It is confirmed that she has an active infection."

Chris groaned; he was hoping that Claire would have been wrong and there was no virus in her body.

"I can't identify the agent, but we managed to isolate the virion and amplify it, so we might be able to identify it. "

"Any idea of what are the virion effects on her?"

"I am afraid that I'd be speculating if I tried to give you an answer. The test won't give us that much information; but if I have to guess based on the protocolary results of blood tests, there's a high chance it's effects are associated to a blood dysfunction…"

"Blood dysfunction?"

"Have you ever heard of the Evans Syndrome, Mr. Redfield?"

"No...why?"

"Oh, well I am not surprised, but I had to ask. The Evans syndrome is a very rare autoimmune disorder in which the immune system destroys the red blood cells, white blood cells and/or platelets. Affected people often experience thrombocytopenia and hemolytic anemia." Hiwamura explained "The symptoms are more or less the symptoms that she's is showing right now. Her whitecell blood count is lower than normal, but it isn't that bad. However, her platelet and red cells count dropped significantly since the last time."

"So…?"

"ES cause is unknown, and I wouldn't discard the virus causing it. It is not necessarily the virion's exact pathology, but its specific reaction in Claire's body. I'm taking a marrow puncture for Claire when she comes today and I'll array some other special tests."

"Is it grave?"

"As any other disease, it has it risks, but it is treatable, so the prognosis isn't that bad. Claire does need to be careful, though. The low platelet count means that even a small cut would cause her to lose blood fast and with her current state of anemia, that could be mortal. I need to look more into her symptomatology before I can think of a treatment, but by now what I consider the most adequate is a blood transfusion to replenish her blood cell loss."

"And you think this is related to the new virus?"

"I do….."

"And the T-phobos…?"

"What about it?"

"Would it have something to do with her condition, too?"

"That's unlikely. The T-phobos has been incorporated to Claire's genome for a while. Nothing similar happened and it wouldn't suddenly start to cause her these symptoms, at least not without a trigger. No, I strongly believe this is caused by the new virus; but we will have to study the case carefully. Claire was right when she said the virus wasn't causing her mutations, but it seems that her body is fighting the new virus the best way it can."

"She has antibodies then?"

"Immune response are usually Antibody-mediated, after all;but no, I don't think she has antibodies for it. The white cell count is low, so I wouldn't think the immunological response is that high. I think it is more like her body rejecting the virus in some way... but like I said. I can only speculate right now. We need more data. It's too soon to make absolute statements."

Chris ran his hand over his head wearily. His face reflected the concern he could not express in words, but being a psychiatrist, the man knew that Dr. Hiwamura probably knew the maelstrom of feelings that were hitting him at the time.

"Do whatever you need to do. Make sure to inform Leon about it. He needs to keep Claire safe from injuries now..."

Hiwamura nodded.

"Nothing is clear at the moment, Mr. Redfield. There's no thing in life that can't be solved…"

With those last words, Hiwamura ended up the call. Chris let out a sigh of agony and rubbed his exhausted face.

Why did it have to be his sister? Chris would have given anything to take his sister place right now. He couldn't help but think that he had been more or less the cause of Claire's fatalities; the only reason that the girl had been dragged into the biowarfare was because she'd been there when everything had began. If he had warned her, gave her a call or left her a message at the time, she wouldn't have gone to Racoon City searching for him, nor would she have invaded Umbrella in Paris or fallen prisoner en Rockfort. At the time he had thought that keeping her in the dark was the right way to keep her safe, but he should have known he was wrong.

Claire was, in many ways, too much like him and if it had been the other way around, he would have done the exact same thing. But Claire wasn't a soldier, she was a woman with a future; a woman who he wanted to see living happily in a safe home with family; a woman whose only battle should be what clothes to wear that day or how to make her children eat the vegetables at dinner and not a battle against an unknown virus that was trying to destroy her body.

There was nothing that Chris could do now but mourn the mistakes he had made even when he knew it was meaningless. He would do whatever it took to help Claire now and that was all that mattered.


	44. Chapter 44

Another Chapter! I sure struggled to get this posted, but here we go

Claire had learned to feel comfortable working in high biosecured laboratories as she had come to spend a lot of time in them. The pre entering protocol was tedious, but it usually became much more tolerable when you had someone to converse through it.

"Let's hope that Wallace won't be pestering Leon while we are out of there." Hiwamura giggled putting on the suit.

"Leon can handle it, and honestly, Wallace will be too distracted with his gaming to care…"

"Who knows. He might consider Leon a rival now…"

"I doubt that a fake husband can be considered a rival."

"A handsome one yes. You never know when real love can bloom."

"Are you still with that?" Claire sighed "Change of topic. Did you do the blood analysis?"

"I did. I actually have the report here…"

"I'll see it through after we are done here, but how about a quick note now?"

"Well, T-phobos remains stable in your genome…."

"I guess that's good; and the second virion?"

"Isolated it. It's in very low concentration is blood…"

"Good, it isn't blood-borne then…" Claire could not describe the relief of knowing that the virus was not blood-borne.

"Nope. It seems to be localized…"

"Makes me less contagious at least; the question now is...where?"

"I have my guesses…"

"Oh?"

"You I think...it is in your bone marrow. You're showing symptoms that could be compared to Evans syndrome, Claire..."

"Autoimmune disease?" Claire said looking at the asian thoughtful "Well, that could be worse…"

"I might be wrong, but I want a marrow sample to be safe…"

"You can take it after we are done with this…" Claire nodded. The faster they did things, the better.

"I already told Christ, just to warn you…"

"Oh, there's an upgrade in his overprotectiveness level there…" Claire chuckled "It's okay. He needs to know. Chris is already fed up with me keeping secrets from him."

"He told me to tell Leon, too…"

"Of course he would, Leon is my big brother number 2. He's supposed to play Chris's role when he's not around."

The two women entered the sterile room and each one began to work in their respective area of work.

Rebecca had sent two vials of the virus that Leon and Helena had recovered in Mexico. Claire started working on the extraction of genetic material while Saya worked in microscopy to determine its structure.

"It's a helical virus…?"

"Yeah, that's what Rebecca put in her report…"

"Double capside, alpha form, well at simple look, I'd sy structurally speaking it looks like ebolavirus…."

"Yeah, Rebecca's team tried to identify it with Ebola virus primers, but they had no amplifications. We will try a different approach."

"Okay…huh? Don't look, but it seems we have company…"

Claire turned to Saya with a questioning look. She saw the asian woman tilted her head pointing at the window. Claire turned her head and her eyes instantly locked with Leon's green ones. SHe hadn't even realized that he and Helena were looking at them through the security glass.

" Want a virology lesson?" she silently mouthed at him.

Claire saw Leon snort and shake his head.

"I pass." he silently mouthed back.

Claire made a resignation gesture and smiled at him. She already knew his response, but she still have asked.

"Your loss…" she smiled.

Claire turned back to her samples and kept working with an unconscious smile. It took her about fifteen minutes to finish the extraction protocol and preparing the amplification samples that she put into the equipment and started the program. Saya had already put the viral sample into the freezer when Claire had turned to the asian doctor.

"Well, all that's left is wait." Claire said as she began cleaning her workplace.

"I'll head out first to prepare everything for the marrow biopsy."

"Ok…"

Claire wasn't a fan of needles and procedures such biopsies; but she wouldn't complain if they had to be done. After taking the proper protocol to "sterilize" herself before leaving the lab, Claire entered the medical room and laid on her stomach as the doctor began the procedure. The test wasn't nice, local anesthesia would numb her muscles, but not her bone, so when the needled made its way to take the sample of marrow, she still felt the piercing pain.

"I already gave you Tranexamic acid to prevent excessive bleeding; but you need to laid on your back for a bit…"

Claire sighed looking at the ceiling for a few minutes, while the pain at the base of her back began to feel more intense as the anesthesia began to pass. It didn't help that her head had started to hurt.

"Yes, I think it has stopped bleeding." Saya said looking at the bandage. "Now, get up slowly...that's it. It wasn't that bad, was it?"

Claire looked at the Asian woman with a slight irritation as she stood up with her help. The pain of the procedure was still there, but Claire managed to endure it enough to be able to walk.

Both women left the room, Saya was walking closely in case that Claire needed some support, but the young Redfield showed no sign of needing it. Claire had taken the chart with the results of the tests on her own blood and began to flip through its contents.

"Is this the full sequence?"

"Yes, I guessed you'll want to have it printed."

"Huh…" Claire said checking the sequence of letters on the diagram " Interesting…"

"What ?"

"This starter sequence over here...it's the one that codes for the main virulent protein of the T-phobos."

"So it is a retrovirus?"

"Not necessarily...but considering the location of the gene, there is a high chance...wait, what's this?"

Claire pointed at a position close to the middle of the sequence; there were duplicate letters on the same portion of the line. It wasn't uncommon that some of the bases would get repeated, but there was something off in how the bases were paired.

"Uh? Those bases? What with them?"

"I don't know...maybe it's nothing. I'll look through it later…"Claire sighed "Oh, hey…You two are still there? The office is much more comfy you know?"

"We were waiting for you." Leon said looking at her and she only smiled at him weakly.

"Oh...the sample is amplifying now. It'd take about 3 h to end; then we'll need to do sequencing, so maybe you'll prefer to go somewhere more livable."

"The office sounds about right." Hiwamura agreed "Who knows, maybe Wallace will let you play with him. I think his new game can do multiplayer..."

" I pass…." Claire said shaking her head, "I have a migraine, I don't think I can stand the flashy screens and all the shooting. You two could try out, though…"

"Are you okay?" Helena asked concerned.

"Yeah, too much "thinking" in one go." Claire chuckled "I'll have some pain killers and that should do."

"How about a nap?" Hiwamura suggested.

"Maybe that, too. I had forgotten how draining this was…."

"I told you it was too soon for you start working and so did Chris…"

There it was; the overprotectiveness that was so much like Chris's.

"I know. It's nothing. I just need to catch up with the rhythm. Don't worry…"

"Ok, so...why don't you go to your office and I'll get you those pills?" HIwamura suggested "Sleep it off…"

"Yeah, I think I'll do that. I'll be in Genetics if you two need me "

Claire gave the two agents a weary smile and headed to her small office in the genetic lab. The office was a small room with a desk and a sofa where Claire used to sit and read or take naps when the work left her excessively tired. The woman dropped down on the seat and closed her eyes.

A migraine and a bone marrow biopsy were a bad mix, Claire thought bitterly. Her mind began to wander but as much as she tried, sleep did not seem to reach her. Resigned to the fact that napping was going to be impossible, Claire took the data table that Saya had given her and began to study the sequence..

"That doesn't look like napping…"

Claire looked up from her papers with a face that looked like a child who'd just been discovered making a prank.

Leon was standing in front of the door with his arms crossed and a raised eyebrow.

"Leon! Geez...you scared me" Claire sighed "And in my defense...I did try to sleep, but….I just...couldn't; and you should knock, you know?"

" I expected you to be sleep, didn't want to wake you."

"As usual, such a gentleman..." Claire said rolling her eyes.

"Since you're awake you might want to take this…" Leon said handing Claire a some pills.

"Oh, thanks…"

Claire took the pills and a glass of water from the table on the side and swallowed them in a gulp. The pills would take a while to take effect and until then, Claire would have to endure the pain for a while longer.

The woman made space on the sofa and patted the free space at her side, inviting the blonde to sit down.

"I'm not a zombie, yet. I don't bite…"

"That's not funny at all, Claire…"

"You really need to stop hanging out with Chris…" she snorted "your humor is starting to be as good as his…"

Leon took a seat next to her while Claire continued to watch the data on the screen of her laptop. The sequence identity analysis was running smoothly, but it still needed a little more time before the results were ready.

"What's that?" Leon asked.

" Oh, ready for that biology class I promised you? I'm just kidding. This is a software we designed; the algorithm allows us to compare multiple fragments of the viral genome against genomes in the database. So even if the virus is a frankenstein...we can get an idea of which agent was used as template…"

"You sure have your tricks, Redfield."

"It comes in handy when 90% of the viruses you analyze are genetically engineered…"

"So...this is the Mexican sample?"

"No, this is...something else…" Claire sighed "This is the virus isolated from me…."

That certainly caught Leon's attention.

"From you?"

"Yeah, Saya was kind enough to do the sample treatment for me…all I need to do now is to analyze the data..."

"And...what exactly are we looking at?"

"Well, this is the genetic material from the virus; you can get a lot of information from it; for example, this sign here indicates the strand's sense, this one is plus strand which means that this viral RNA sequence may be directly translated into the desired viral proteins. Therefore, the viral RNA genome can be considered viral mRNA, and can be immediately translated by the host cell making the infection happened in a much faster rate since it can skip a metabolic process. Now, this section, here, codes for a specific

enzyme name RTase and only some specific types of virus have it. I know this sequence well, it belongs to the T-phobos. RTases are coded in retroviruses. Retroviruses are viruses that have the particularity of being able to incorporate segments of their genome into the host's causing abnormalities in cell growth that often result in cancerous tumors. The T-phobos was designed on retroviral template incorporating genetic fragments from the T-virus and the T-veronica."

"You seem to know a lot about the T-phobos."

"Let's say I have a particular love for the T-phobos." she replied sarcastically "Considering it literally changed my life in more ways that I'd like…"

"I might have seen a report or two, but I was a little too busy with other things to pay much attention to it…"

"You probably saw my reports…" Claire giggled " I made a full study for the government years after the incident. To help the development of the antiviral. The T-phobos is an interesting virion, since compared to its far cousins, it isn't exactly infectious. It's a retrovirus that after entering the cell remains in the cytoplasm in a latent state. The virus has specific receptors for norepinephrine, cortisol and epinephrine, hormones associated with fear and stress. When the concentration of these hormones reaches a certain number, the virulence is unleashed and that's when the symptoms appear…"

"So that's how it worked? You freak out, your levels of hormone blow up and bingo you are monster?"

"Yeah, basically. In other words, it's not that you can't feel fear, but you have to right amount of the hormone released in you body. Now in my case, it seems that at some point of my life I developed a cute little mutation in a certain gene named corticosteroid-binding globulin which regulates plasma cortisol levels and bioavailability; as a result my levels of cortisol are usually low. Eventually, due to environmental factors that I don't know, the virus mutated inside my cells and eventually completed its cycle integrating its DNA into mine. Luckily for me recombination was mostly benign."

"Mostly?"

"Yeah, what's a little depressive tendencies compared to be mutant monster, right?"Claire shrugged.

"And you think this new virus is related to the T-phobos?"

"Yeah, unfortunately I only recognize this segment, so it's hard to tell anything else. Once the blast sequence is done, I might figure something..."

Leon suddenly chuckled.

"What? What's so funny?" Claire asked looking at him puzzled.

"When I met you on the streets of Racoon city, I'd never have imagined that that girl throwing knifes, sarcastic comments and kicking zombies' asses would turn out to be such scientists . There I thought she was just an average college girl..."

"Hey!" Claire laughed " but you know...in a way, you were the one who encouraged me into taking virology."

"Me?"

"Remember that time in Harvardville?" Claire said leaning back "You told me in your odd way of comforting me, that I had chosen a different path from you and Chris, but I still fought for the same ideal. Well, I think that conversation was my decisive point to chose virology...and here I am, profiling unknown viruses so that people like you and Chris can kick some B.O.W.'s ass…"

"That's much appreciated, Claire."

Claire smiled. She settled the laptop on the desk and sighed; the analysis would take at least 12h to be done. She wouldn't get any data until tomorrow.

"Tired?"

"Not exactly. Are you?"

"Why would I?"

"Well, babysitting me is quite boring…" Claire laughed "I pity you and Helena."

"Last time I checked, Helena was enjoying herself kicking your computer engineer's ass in his game." Leon replied shaking his head "And I have good company in exchange, so no...babysitting you is actually nice."

"Really?" Claire frowned skeptical "You prefer sitting here chatting with me than playing hero out there?"

"Yeah, I actually do. Maybe I enjoy being your husband, too."

"Oh, no. What you enjoy is teasing me in front of everyone else…"

"Well, it's not easy to tease a Redfield…"

Claire laughed. The woman couldn't deny that despite feeling annoyed about being treated like a fragile doll in distress, she enjoyed Leon's company. It was nice to have somebody to fool around and spend silly afternoons at home.

"Now try to take that nap..." Leon said sternly.

"I'll try…" Claire chuckled, but it didn't take long for the drugs to take effect and the woman was quickly snoozing off. Her head dropped on Leon' shoulder; but instead of pushing her away, Leon pulled her closer and let her have the sleep she deserved.


End file.
